Learners who will exit Grade Six next year under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) will be issued with a transition report instead of the exam certificate that has been issued to primary school graduates since 1985.
The learners’ scores on this report will be used for their placement in junior secondary school and is among the changes recommended by the Task Force on Enhancing Access, Relevance, Transition, Equity and Quality for Effective Curriculum Reforms Implementation.
The transition report will contain learners’ scores from their assessment at the end of Grade Four, Five and Six, combined with the outcome of a national summative assessment. The first such assessment will be administered in November next year.
“At the end of Grade Six, the formative (classroom and school-based) assessment outcomes which will have been submitted to the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) will be combined with the outcomes of the national summative assessment to prepare a Transitional Report (TR) for each individual learner,” the report reads.
Already, the learners who are in Grade Five have undertaken their Grade Four school-based assessment. They are currently undertaking the practical and project-based assessments alongside their Grade Four counterparts. The deadline for this is December 10.
They will then be assessed on theory from January 31 to February 4. Their scores in Grade Four, Five and Six will be marked out of 20 per cent each. These assessments will be administered and marked by teachers and the scores recorded in the school year report, which will be uploaded to the Knec portal.
The report recommends that Knec develops robust ICT systems to support processes related to competency-based assessment, including “enrolment and tracking of learners throughout the education cycle, item banking and access of assessment tools and maintaining a database of learners’ performance”.
These are the scores that will be combined with the outcome of the summative assessment that will be marked out of 40. The report has also made it clear that the summative assessment at the end of Grade Six will only focus on what the learners covered in Grades Four,Five and Six.
“The assessment will... provide basis for early identification and nurturing of individual talents and areas of interest and finally inform policy on required interventions,” the report reads.
In September, Knec piloted the Grade Six summative assessment in 212 schools but used the learners in Grade Five since there is no candidate class at present. The assessment comprised multiple choice format, unlike the other CBC school-based assessments where the learners are assessed through projects and oral tests.
Knec will be issuing learners with a Unique Assessment Number at Grade Three that will be used to track their progress. They will use the number even as they transition to subsequent education levels.
However, the government might find itself in an awkward situation next year, unless it fast-tracks the process of amending the Kenya National Examinations Council Act (2012) to accommodate the changes recommended by the task force that was chaired by the principal secretary for Implementation of Curriculum Reforms, Prof Fatuma Chege.
With the General Election slated for August next year, and parliament expected to be dissolved in May, there is limited time to amend the Act.
“Knec to review the Knec Act (2012) and all regulations to align with the curriculum reforms including renaming of the institution and renaming of assessments to be administered under competency-based assessment,” the recommendation reads.
