The final Kenya Primary School Education Assessment, Grade Six students will take multiple-choice exams (KPSEA).
Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) CEO David Njengere yesterday assuaged candidates’ and parents’ concerns that the assessment format had been altered from the original plan under the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC).
The assessments have already been set and are ready for administration.”… “Nothing has been changed in the format as this is the first final assessment under the CBC,” said Dr. Njengere.
He explained that Grade 6 KPSEA follows the Ministry of Education’s Basic Education Curriculum Framework guidelines, which were released in 2019 to guide national assessments under the curriculum. The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development created the framework (KICD).
National assessments in Grades Three, Four, Five, and a portion of Grade Six are formative, while learners will sit for a summative assessment at the end of Grade Six.
The formative assessments have already been completed by Grade Six students.
They are scheduled to take the summative assessment at the end of the year, which will consist of multiple choice questions, according to Dr. Njengere.
He explained that KPSEA follows the Ministry of Education’s Basic Education Curriculum Framework guidelines, which were released in 2019 to guide national assessments under the curriculum. The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development created the framework (KICD).
National assessments in Grades Three, Four, Five, and a portion of Grade Six are formative, while learners will sit for a summative assessment at the end of Grade Six.
“The learners in Grade Six have already done the formative assessments.” They are scheduled to sit for the summative assessment at the end of the year, which basically will be multiple choice, “said Dr. Njengere.
Assessments in schools will be both formative and summative, according to the CBC task force report.
Lower primary school assessments are primarily formative, which means that teachers in Grades One through Three conduct classroom assessments.
Knec has since developed standardized assessment tools that teachers in their respective schools can administer, score, and provide feedback to individual learners.
The schools then submit the results for each learner in a specific format to Knec to facilitate analysis of competency achievement at the national level.
Upper primary assessments adhere to the Basic Education Policy, which governs the balance of formative and summative evaluations.
According to the task force report, this allows for a comprehensive assessment of different learners’ mastery of various competencies.
The formative and summative assessment results will help learners be placed in Junior Secondary School in January of next year.
According to the report, the mode of assessment will consist of a combination of teacher-administered formative assessment in Grades Four, Five, and Six and a summative assessment to be administered by Knec at the end of Grade Six.
Dr. Njengere stated that formative assessments completed in Grades Four (20%), Five (20%), and Six (20%) will account for 60% of the final grade, while the summative assessment scheduled for November will account for 40%.
According to the task force report, the summative assessment is motivated by the need to provide learners from across the country with access to schools with superior infrastructure and a culture of high performance, thereby increasing equity.
Assessments will be formative and summative in secondary schools, according to the report.
According to the report, “the junior secondary school assessment will facilitate placement in Senior Secondary School, while the senior school assessment will facilitate transition into tertiary and university education and training.”
Summative assessments, according to the CBC basic education framework, are used to evaluate students’ learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement at the end of a defined instructional period – typically at the end of a learning cycle.
Placement and certification will be based on the summative assessments. The results will also be used to grade students.
Formative assessments are used to diagnose learning gaps, as well as for corrective, retesting, evidence feedback to teachers, and learner self-evaluation.
The framework states that “formative assessments focus on learners’ abilities, attitudes, and aptitudes that do not manifest themselves in the form of the written word.”
Grade Six students will be assessed in five subjects during the summative assessment: mathematics and English on the first day, integrated science and Kiswahili on the second day, and creative arts and social studies on the third day.
Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Kenyan sign language, science and technology, agriculture, music, art and craft, social studies, religious education, home science, and physical and health education are all formative assessment tools in Grades Four, Five, and Six.
More than 1.25 million Grade Six students are expected to take the summative exam and enter Grade Seven the following year.
Dr. Njengere stated that Knec will mark the KPSEA assessments using the resources available.
The Standard Eight Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam is currently marked electronically under the 8-4-4 system. Teachers manually grade only English composition and Kiswahili Insha.
