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Evaluating ’em at Every Step
The broader perspective of education is to prepare students to become responsible and knowledgeable citizens for a resourceful and industrious life in a globalised world. In this context, it has become mandatory to reform and strengthen the educational system. Evaluation becomes a tool of ascertaining the level to which the educational system has succeeded in achieving its goals. The Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) model seeks to reform the existing examination based assessment system to a more holistic evaluation of students By Sheena Joseph
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ontinuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is a tool that would enable children to review their own learning abilities. After every chapter, there will be a number of competencies listed for which the learner would answer in yes or no. The answers will be given to the class teacher. When the learner answers in the negative, then he/she will be given corrective coaching. When majority of the students answer in the negative, then the teacher can change the teaching methodology to suit student requirements. In a circular issued by the CBSE on Examination Reforms and Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) to all heads of CBSE institutions it has been reiterated that external examinations ‘are largely inappropriate for the ‘knowledge society’ of the 21st century and its need for innovative problem solvers’. Questions if not framed well, “call
“The implications of CCE is very encouraging. The creative teachers have appreciated the change, but few will always take longer to adapt to the reforms. Change is always welcome” Rekha Sharma
Principal, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Mehta Vidyalaya
for rote memorisation and fail to test higher-order skills like reasoning and analysis, lateral thinking, creativity and judgment. External exams make no allowance for different types of learners and learning environments and induce an inordinate level of anxiety and stress.” The circular asserts that a reliable and functional school based evaluation system needs to be created that would cater to the holistic assessment of the learner, which would include co-scholastic area of life skills, attitudes and values, sports and games as well as co-curricular activities. The CCE system intends to tackle these issues through consistent and focused reforms in the examination system.
What is Evaluation?
“The teacher and the student become the key stakeholders in the CCE model. Formative assessments form the crux of CCE and we are coming up with a lot of resources for this” Vineet Joshi
Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)
Evaluation is a procedure for establishing how far the knowledge experiences are in reality creating the preferred outcomes. The NCERT is occupied in numerous activities linked to measurement and assessment in the area of examination reforms. The activities related to this are particularly aimed at creating and homogenising scientific tools for appraisal of a range of areas related to a student’s growth. As Vineet Joshi, Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) elaborates, “The teacher is the nodal point for the implementation of CCE, while at the same time, it needs to be emphasised that the reforms are being
implemented for the benefit of students. The teacher and the student become the key stakeholders in the CCE model. Formative assessments form the crux of CCE and we are coming up with a lot of resources for this. Summative assessment is something that teachers are already familiar with and includes end of term assessments. We are going to start training sessions specifically for formative assessments. We are also sensitising the parents on what to expect from CCE, because when parents realise that it is a supportive system, they will better be able to accommodate the entire process.”
Tests and Examinations Conventionally, schools have been using tests in evaluation programming to assess if the student has obtained certain process- and content-related knowledge. The focus of the tests is on the mission, goal, and objectives and permit useful projections of student behavior and learning. A well created and watchfully managed test which is adjudged by two or more evaluators for the definite purpose of ascertaining program strengths and weaknesses remains one of the most popular instruments for evaluating student achievements. Explaining the concepts of formative and summative assessments in the CCE context, Srikanth, Director and COO, Manipal K12 education points out that these are assessment tools used by
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“I want to complement CBSE for bringing such changes into the school education system. We have been having regular in-service teacher training to familiarise teachers with the same”
guidance so students take ownership of their portfolios. The balance of ‘teacher-selected’ versus ‘student-selected’ content in portfolio depends on the age and maturity of students. Teachers help students learn how to thoughtfully choose which items to include in their portfolios and provide students opportunities to thoughtfully remove items also.
Technologies for Evaluation Anubhuti Mehta
Principal, KV Sec 2, R K Puram
the teacher to continuously monitor student progress in a non threatening, supporting environment. “It involves regular descriptive feedback, a chance for the student to reflect on the performance, take advice and improve upon it,” he says. According to him, if used effectively it can improve student performance tremendously while raising the self-esteem of the child and reducing the workload of the teacher.
the design of the curriculum in all subject areas.” Portfolios are used by students to communicate development with parents and with teachers and peers throughout the year. They are intended to be student-managed with teacher
Portfolio Evaluation Portfolios used for evaluation are mostly exemplified by compilations of student work that display to the teachers and the student the improvement and accomplishment in stipulated areas. Portfolio assessment is a supportive appraisal tool as it permits the faculty to examine an entire scope of students’ work on a regular basis. The use of student portfolios also provides the faculty with the ability of determining the content and manages the quality of the assessed material. Describing how a teacher can have an effective medium of maintaining student portfolios in a classroom Srikanth explains, “Portfolios are a collection of the child’s work which is designed to demonstrate success, growth, higher order thinking, creativity and reflection. The portfolio is an exhibition of an active mind at work. Portfolios should celebrate student learning through the year, showing the development of the whole child, both within and outside
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“Portfolios should celebrate student learning through the year, showing the development of the child, both within and outside the design of the curriculum in all subject areas” Srikanth
Director and COO Manipal K12 Education
There are several technologies that can help in assisting schools in implementation of examination reforms under the CCE model. These include web based applications that empower schools to capture students’ details. Templates are available for activities on formative assessments and summative assessments with default descriptive indicators. There are options to customise them to the school requirements. Report Card Generation tools can prove to be useful for generation of student results. Once marks are entered, all other calculations, conversion to grades and formatting is done automatically. The teacher can select the descriptive indicators and print the report card. There are options to generate comprehensive reports for performance analysis, consolidated mark sheets and many more. Teachers may exercise the option to analyse challenging areas faced by the student and give feedback to student or parent through email or web portal. “The purpose of technology-assisted tools is to reduce the strain on today’s teachers, and to help them improve and optimise their teaching methods. With multimedia tools – animation or videos or diagrams – teachers can effortlessly explain complicated concepts in subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Also, these user-friendly tools enable them to customise their classroom sessions, teach fast or slow according to individual student’s learning pace, and assist them in creating an engaging and interesting classroom. Some of these tools also have pre-loaded lesson plans which furnish guidelines on
how to maximise student comprehension,” says Srikanth.
“Complete transformation from a traditional way of teaching to modern teaching styles will take some time, but once it gains ground, it will become an effective system”
Fitness and CCE According to recent surveys by AIIMS and Apollo group, 24% of all urban children are obese and nearly 36.58% of children across India are found to be unfit. With these disturbing statistics in mind, it is imperative that the management of different schools take urgent action to ensure that the future citizens are and remain healthy. CCE emphasises the importance of assessment of physical education apart from regular academics. Expressing his delight at the inclusion of fitness education in CCE, Akhil Ravi, Vice President (Sales) at India Khelo states, “Its heartening to see that the CBSE has taken some constructive steps in ensuring that children are taught the values of health and physical education.” These steps along with other development guidelines fall under the purview of
D S Negi
Principal, KV, Rohini
CCE norms stated by the CBSE. The CCE looks to assess the students based on basic understanding about health, physical fitness, sports knowledge and sports skill development, attitude development and participation in health and wellness club activities. IndiaKhelo, a company started by graduates from IITs in collaboration with Pediatricians, Olympic medalists, sports physiotherapists and dieticians has developed FitnessAIR, a physical fitness assessment and improvement program for children. With the new CCE guidelines where grading based on physical education has been introduced, Akhil hopes that schools, children and parents will take physical education and sports seriously.
The Challenges
“Its heartening to see that the CBSE has taken some constructive steps in ensuring that children are taught the values of health and physical education” Akhil Ravi
Vice President (Sales), India Khelo
Some teachers have pointed out that the CCE examination guidelines do not put adequate emphasis on the special educational needs of children. “I feel that CBSE has not given any guidelines specifically for the requirements of differently abled students,” says Meenakshi Chopra, CCE Coordinator of the Special Wing at Balwant Rai Mehta Vidya Bhavan. For example, if we take question papers, the subjects have been divided and given specific marking schemes, which cannot be modified. However, the CBSE has not stated how the questions can be adapted to student requirements. In the 19 provisions given by the CBSE for examination reforms, it has only mentioned that special or extra time will be
given to such children or an assistant invigilator from the school will be given to the student. Also, it has been briefly mentioned that for the visually challenged, exam questions papers will be in bigger letters. “These are the only provisions that are provided by the CBSE. Others such as the blind, autistic or the hearing impaired have diverse range of needs. Though the CBSE has stated all differently abled children can take part in the exams, no guidelines have been mentioned on how to modify the question papers according to requirements. Had there been any guidelines for that, we could have followed the same,” Chopra complains. Also with regard to the availability of teaching resources and textbooks, teachers have stated that for practical based subjects like home science, painting and IT, the CBSE publication department has not made books available nor are these widely available in the market. Without specific guidelines, teachers have to design activities on their own for these additional subjects, which take away a significant part of their time. Although, not free of limitations, the CCE model can be of immense significance in creating and institutionalising a learner centric education system in India. The operational and implementation challenges need to be taken care of by the provision of adequate teaching resources and training facilities. The new teaching-learning patterns envisaged by CCE will reap benefits in the long term. \\
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