For the current academic year, new reading and literacy examinations have been adopted for testing both English and Arabic at private schools in Dubai.

According to new regulations from the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), the Emirate's private education regulator, students between the ages of six and fifteen will take the exams three times throughout the academic year. Beginning with the academic year 2023–2024, all schools in Dubai will take part in both the Arabic Benchmark Test for grades 1–9 and the digital Reading Literacy Assessment for grades 1–12. These tests were developed by external organizations.

Glen Radojkovich, deputy director of education provider Taaleem, said that they have been administering assessments, and the new requirements demand consistency across all schools about the frequency of the reading assessments and the specificity of the Arabic examinations. He said that the practice of assessment is not new, but KHDA has modified the methods and frequency.

According to the recommendations, exams must evaluate reading abilities across a variety of domains, with appropriate age-related emphasis on phonics, word recognition, reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, interpretation and comparative analysis of passages, critiquing a text, and comprehension of different genres, including poetry.

Peter Bonner, Assistant Principal, Primary – Curriculum, Progress, and Assessment, GEMS World Academy, highlights that the outcomes of assessments must reveal each student's reading age in relation to grade/age expectations as well as a Standard Age Score (SAS) to enable data comparison. Assessments must be computer-adaptive assessments. They should enable a thorough analysis of the data, which is then utilized to support the determination of the unique needs of each student.

While sharing the results of reading assessments with parents is not compulsory, it is typically done as a matter of good practice to preserve transparency and to make sure that instructors, parents, and students are all aware of the kids' next steps