The tests were given after the children have been in class 1 for approximately 10 months. There were two tests, a word recognition test, and, for children able to complete that test easily, there was a simple comprehension test. Both tests were administered orally.

61% of students completed the first test without a mistake and 83% scored 16 or more out of 20. The results demonstrate that most children have, therefore, already mastered decoding words and that many can read and comprehend a simple passage of writing.

Children who had attended Kindergarten (TK) performed significantly better, (34% higher in test 1) than those who had not. This suggests that many emerged from TK already able to read, or with good pre-reading skills. Previous use of the tests confirms this finding.

There were significant differences in children's reading ability between schools. In some schools nearly all the children were able to read words and simple sentences, whereas in others, even after 10 months in school, a high proportion of children had not mastered reading individual words.

The results should not lead to complacency, as observation of teaching in Indonesian schools, including those in the MBE program shows that schools need to develop a much more reading friendly environment with more books available and more opportunities and encouragement to read them in order to develop a 'reading culture'.

This test focused on skills and was divided into two parts. The first part, reading comprehension, tested children's ability to read an extended piece of writing with understanding. The second part, story writing, tested children's ability to extract ideas from a picture and, using their imagination and creativity, to produce a story based on that picture. The final score for writing was a composite of five scores for the different skills of handwriting, spelling, punctuation, length of the written piece and the quality of language used.

As with the class 1 reading test there was significant variance amongst schools in both reading and writing. In some schools most of the children were able to read with comprehension and write a well ordered and legible essay, while in others few if any children were able to do so.

There were significant differences between schools in the ability of children to express themselves correctly and at length using their own words. It is clear that in some schools children are more accustomed to writing in their own words. Similarly some schools appear to emphasise good handwriting, correct punctuation and spelling, while others do not.

There was a fairly low correlation between schools where children scored highly in the reading tests and those who scored highly in the writing test, reinforcing the view that the inability of many children to write coherently in their own words is because of lack of opportunity to practice their skills. Teachers also do not understand how to develop processes and strategies which students can use when writing, e.g. planning, drafting, editing, note taking and researching.

Children found it easier to answer multiple choice questions, in particular, where there was a direct answer to be found in the text. They found question where they had to infer meaning much more difficult to answer.

The mathematics test was substantially revised compared to the test used in PEQIP and the Basic Education Projects in order to give a greater emphasis on testing children's understanding and their problem solving capabilities. Over half the questions were given over to number operations.

Although able to solve many of the routine number operations easily division seems to cause many children problems, as does recognising the value of decimal fractions. Most children thought that 0.14 is a larger number than 0.8.

Children were also unable to recognise drawings of four simple fractions. This is an example of one of the major problems in mathematics teaching. Teachers appear to spend a great deal of time teaching complicated number operations with fractions (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). However, teachers generally understate the importance of developing a functional understanding in their students of the basic concepts (what is a fraction?) on which the more complex levels of understanding and skill can then be developed.

Children found difficulty with some of the problem solving activities, which required them to show creativity. It is noticeable that in many classes children are primarily shown by the teacher how to work or solve problems and merely copy what the teacher shows them.

The test was divided into three sections. The first section assessed children's active learning or process skills such as the ability to observe, interpret and hypothesize (i.e. providing tentative answers based on previous knowledge and experience), while the third section required the children to apply everyday science concepts to everyday situations. The second section was of a more familiar multiple choice format and tested understanding of concepts.

Children found the kinds of problems presented in sections one and three of the test more difficult to answer.