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- PaperDOAJ — Language assessment1 Dec 2025
Emerging successes and persistent challenges in Hungarian minority education in Romania
Imre Tódor
Analysis of 2020-2025 assessment data shows a persistent 1.3-1.5 point gap in Romanian language performance between Hungarian minority and majority students in Romania, with mathematics scores nearly equivalent, confirming the gap is linguistic. Baccalaureate pass rates improved in high-minority regions after full implementation of a differentiated 'Romanian as a non-native language' curriculum, suggesting alignment of exams with curriculum may benefit minority students, though gains vary by region and school type.
Original abstract
This study examines the early impacts of recent curriculum and examination reforms in Romanian minority education, focusing on the introduction of the “Romanian as a non-native language” curriculum for Hungarian-speaking students. Using aggregated national assessment and baccalaureate data from 2020–2025, the research analyzes trends in Romanian language performance among minority students, compares results across regions and school types, and uses mathematics performance as a comparative indicator to contextualize language-specific achievement patterns. Descriptive, cohort-comparative, and proportion-difference analyses, complemented by hypothetical “what-if” calculations, reveal that while a persistent 1.3–1.5 point gap remains between minority and majority students in Romanian language performance at the 8th-grade level, mathematics scores are nearly equivalent, indicating that the gap is linguistic rather than cognitive. In the 2025 baccalaureate – the first year of full curriculum implementation – pass rates improved notably in high-minority regions (e.g., Harghita +5.3 pp, Covasna +1.6 pp), alongside a significant reduction in failure rates, particularly in vocational and technical schools. The findings suggest that aligning examination content with a differentiated curriculum may be associated with more favorable educational outcomes among minority students, though effectiveness varies by region and school type. Sustainable gains require targeted teacher training, adequate resources, and systematic monitoring to address persistent structural and contextual disparities.