A Technical Proposal for Resolving the Main Idea Summarization Skill Crisis: An Analysis of O-NET Achievement Inconsistencies Towards Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment for Grade 6 Students

Abstract

This technical article aims to present evidence of weaknesses in reading summarization skills among Grade 6 students through a secondary analysis of the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-NET) report released by the National Institute of Educational Testing Service (Public Organization) for the 2024 academic year. The findings showed that the mean score for Subjective Item 21, “Picture-Based Story Writing” (8.27 out of 10 points), was substantially higher than that of Subjective Item 22, “Summary Writing from Reading Passages” (3.49 out of 10 points). The assessment results also revealed major deficiencies in students’ ability to identify and synthesize main ideas, apply standard orthographic conventions, select appropriate vocabulary and language register, and demonstrate awareness of sentence structure. These findings indicate that the current holistic achievement-reporting system is insufficient for identifying learners’ domain-specific strengths, weaknesses, and learning difficulties. Therefore, this article proposes the application of Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (CDA) as a framework for providing individualized diagnostic feedback, supporting targeted instructional improvement, and sustainably enhancing Thai language learning at the primary education level.