The Kenyan National Examination Council (KNEC) is preparing a pilot Grade 9 assessment set for June this year, which will give a glimpse of the end of Junior School Assessment in October next year.
This was revealed yesterday by KNEC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Njengere, who said that the council will administer a pilot assessment beginning June this year.
The sample will be in preparation for the administration of a summative assessment in 2025 that will see the pioneer Competency-Based-curriculum (CBC) learners transit to Senior School.
“We will administer the tools of assessment during the pilot to see if our tools are responding to purpose of the school assessment,” Njengere said.
The CEO further said that the pilot assessment will involve 235 schools; five from each county, adding that in October, all schools will get sample exams of model assessment papers.
“We aim to distribute the necessary tools to evaluate their effectiveness, ensuring readiness by October when schools close. Summative papers which were referred to as examination papers will be provided to five schools in each of the 47 counties totaling to 235,” Njengere said.
He said that by making these tools available to both students and teachers, anxiety will be reduced as they will become acquainted with assessment formats, adding that the objective of the council is to guarantee the nation’s readiness for assessment next year.
READ ALSO:
Simmering discontent as KNUT/KUPPET in Bomet reject promotions
The Grade 9 assessments, which will be used for transition to Senior School and also place learners in various pathways, will involve multi-choice questions separated in two parts; the constructed response task and selected response task.
“The constructed response tasks involve providing free-form answers, such as structured compositions or analysis, which is primarily administered through school-based assessment at the primary level, while selected response tasks involve multiple-choice questions administered during the formal summative evaluations. This means nothing will be overlooked,” Njengere said.
In the new dispensation, the Grade 9 assessment will be referred to as Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) and will be computed as follows:
- 20 per cent from Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) at the end of Grade 6,
- 20 per cent from school-based assessments in Grade 7 and 8, and
- 60 per cent from Grade 9 summative assessment.
The council chief also revealed that the name of Grade 12 national examination will be revealed later, however explaining that that examination will be used to certify and grade learners.
The examination will comprise of 30 per cent of school-based assessments done by teachers at Grade 10 and 11, while the larger 70 per cent will be derived from an exit text the learners will sit at the end of their Senior School.
School-Based Assessments are tests a teacher designs, administer and gives scores on how the learners perform.
KNEC Deputy Director of research innovation Anne Ngatia further revealed that at Grade 12, the council will conduct a profile of students that will be used to determine the achievements that a learner has made in the 12 years they have been in school.
“At that level, we will profile a learner. We will determine what a learner has achieved through the learner exit profile and at that level they will move to the world of work,” Ngatia said.
The pioneer class of the new curriculum is currently in Grade 8, meaning they will sit their final Junior School Assessment next year.
Due to this fact, Njegere said that the examination council is currently training Junior School teachers to equip them with the necessary skills to effectively guide students through the new assessment.
By Brian Ndigo
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
