We are concerned about the ill effects that examinations have on efforts to make learning meaningful and joyous for children. Currently, the board examinations negatively influence all testing and assessment throughout the school years, beginning with pre-school.
The major emphasis of CCE is on the continuous growth of students ensuring their intellectual, emotional, physical, cultural and social development and therefore will not be merely limited to assessment of learner's scholastic attainments. It uses assessment as a means of motivating learners […] to provide information for arranging feedback and follow up work to improve upon the learning in the classroom and to present a comprehensive picture of a learner’s profile.
Performance levels | Idea: generating an interpretation | Evidence: using support from the text | Response: learning with and from other students |
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Recognises alternative answers and agrees or disagrees simply | |||
Reacts briefly/quickly to other students’ answers without talking about them | |||
Talks about the text without addressing the question | May retell the story or event, or give an opinion about something mentioned in the text | Allows others to speak without interrupting |
Category | Expert | Competent | Novice | Needs development |
---|---|---|---|---|
Craftsmanship | Form is carefully planned, form is balanced. Edges are smooth, refined. Walls are even thickness. Joining is secure and hidden. All surfaces are smooth, without burrs or wobbles. | Form is somewhat planned, and is slightly asymmetrical. Most edges are smooth, refined. Walls are even thickness with minimum wobbles. Joining is secure and hidden. Most surfaces are smooth, without any burrs. | Form is unplanned and lacks balance. Some edges are smooth but many are unrefined. Joining is secure but is obvious. Walls vary in thickness with some ‘wobbles’. Surfaces are mostly smooth with some wobbles, but some burrs are evident. | Form lacks planning and effort. Surfaces are uneven thickness, burrs readily appear. Joining is insecure. Surfaces and edges are unrefined. |
Creativity | Design is unique, and displays elements that are totally their own. Evidence of detail, pattern or unique applications. | Design is expressive; has some unique features. Has ‘branched out’ to some degree. | Design lacks individuality. Has few details or is not appropriate for the form being expressed. Evidence of copying ideas. | Lacks many design elements or interest. Has minimal additional features or copies the ideas of others. Not much attempt to shown individuality. |
Production/effort | Uses class time to the maximum. Always on task. Time and effort are evident in the execution of the piece. | Uses class time for work but is sometimes distracted by others. Work falls short of excellence. | Has difficulty focusing on the project much of the time. Easily distracted by others. | Hardly evidences caring about quality of the work. No additional effort is noted than to complete it. |
Work habits/attitude | Is respectful and open to positive suggestions. Cleans work area thoroughly. | Is respectful and accepts suggestions. Cleans work area most of the time. | Lacks openness for suggestions for improvement. Has difficulty being on task to cleaning up. | Leaves cleaning up to others. Has an ‘attitude’ and is not open to assistance from suggestions. |
Teacher | I have asked the students to convert the story into a play, beginning with the setting and the cast and characters. I am making a chart on stage directions that they can use and putting it up on the blackboard. I am not sure about how I will organise a rubric for the task I have given them. |
School leader | Well, a good place to start would be identifying what you want the students to be able to demonstrate by writing the play. For example, do you want them to use all of the stage directions on your chart? |
Teacher | Do you think they would be able to do that? |
School leader | Well, that depends on how many you are putting on the chart and how frequently they are used generally in play-writing. |
Teacher | Most of them are used very frequently. I have eight stage directions on the display board. The easy two are ‘exits’ and ‘enters’, and the difficult ones are ‘from offstage’, ‘moving downstage’, ‘speaking from centre stage’ … |
School leader | So the student who uses all the stage directions in his play script should know why they are to be used and that they have a reason for being used? |
Teacher | Yes, I have discussed all that in class when they are presenting their skits, so that they also learn about the craft of theatre when putting up a show. I think it will help when we do the annual day. |
School leader | I now understand why the students of your class always present themselves well in assembly. Now I wonder whether a student who uses all eight stage directions appropriately would be graded as outstanding? |
Teacher | Hmmm. I think they would be outstanding if they use more stage directions than those on display. I see what you mean. So I could say that if only two stage directions are used, the student needs attention. An A-grade student would be the one who used all eight on display. I guess the use of six directions would be average, and a satisfactory C could be given to students whose scripts had four stage directions incorporated. |
School leader | Let us not forget appropriateness. So I would say that the ‘Outstanding’ grade, also implies that the directions are used appropriately. |
Teacher |
Teacher | Here’s your answer sheet – your grade has improved since the last assessment. Have a look at it and tell me if you can see what you have done well and where you need to improve further. |
Student | I wanted an A. You have awarded me a B+. It doesn’t look right to me! I have answered everything. I can’t tell what I’ve missed out on. |
Teacher | Let’s take a look at the rubric together. The second criterion regards the sequence of the reasons for Rani Laxmibai’s decision. |
Student | Well, this is the right sequence according to me! |
Teacher | I understand that you feel your sequence is good enough for you. In history we often need to get out of our skin and think from the point of view of the people who make the decisions. Let’s see now – why do you think you should begin with the immediate cause and then discuss causes that built up the conflict? |
Student | In fact, I guess the immediate cause is usually unimportant. You know they were angry because of the unfair decisions made over years and they just used the rumours about the cartridges as an excuse. |
Teacher | You are really quite upset but you are thinking straight! Your guess is absolutely right! So when you start with the immediate cause, you are in a way highlighting the excuse. Then you systematically identify the causes that were building up over time. If you look at the eight reasons in this case, you can identify a hierarchy that makes one of them the most important cause. |
Student | I see what you mean. So I have to be more careful about the way I sequence the reasons and I have to have a rationale for the sequencing as well! |
Teacher | Absolutely. Do that, and there’s no way I can deny you an A in next week’s assessment. You’ve written it really well. |
Student | Thank you so much! If I write these answers in a more thoughtful sequence, would you please have a look at them? |
Teacher | Sure! Do them at home, and show them to me tomorrow. |
Student |