ADEK Ratings 2026 – Schools in Abu Dhabi (Outstanding)

The Abu Dhabi Department of Knowledge (ADEK) rates a school “Outstanding” if the quality of performance substantially exceeds expectations.

To maintain the quality of the schools in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, ADEK publishes inspection reports based on five performance standards:

• Students’ achievement Performance Standard
• Students’ personal and social development and their innovation skills Performance Standard
• Teaching and Assessment Performance Standard
• Curriculum Performance Standard
• The protection, care, guidance and support of students Performance Standard and Leadership and Management.

What are school inspections?

School inspections in Abu Dhabi aim to improve the quality of education in the emirate. Schools are inspected by teams of professional, qualified and experienced inspectors.

They will gauge the school’s performance in key areas including: Arabic, Islamic Education and Social Studies among others. The team of inspectors include specialists with curriculum expertise in the school’s given curriculum or curricula.

How does ADEK rate & inspect schools?

Inspectors make judgments on a school’s performance in six performance standards

• Performance Standard 1: Students’ achievement
• Performance Standard 2: Students’ personal and social development and their innovation skills
• Performance Standard 3: Teaching and Assessment
• Performance Standard 4: Curriculum
• Performance Standard 5: The protection, care, guidance and support of students
• Performance Standard 6: Leadership and Management

**This six-point scale is used when judging the level of quality in each of the Performance Standards.

The following table shows what the six points mean:

• Outstanding– Quality of performance substantially exceeds the expectation of the UAE
• Very Good– Quality of performance exceeds the expectation of the UAE
• Acceptable– Quality of performance meets the minimum expectation of the UAE. (This is the minimum level for every school in the UAE)
• Weak– Quality of performance is below the expectation of the UAE
• Very Weak– Quality of performance is significantly below the expectation of the UAE

Here’s a comparison of the current and previous ADEK ratings:

Below is a list of all ‘Outstanding’ schools rated by ADEK. See the full ADEK Report here.