Charting your child’s growth to Success…

Taking into account factors such as the knowledge, skill set, attitude and opinions, Educational assessment is a process that records and evaluates these factors in measurable terms. Assessment can be of many types. It can be objective and subjective, formative and summative, formal and informal, and criterion- based and norm-referenced etc.

It is the duty of a teacher to not only teach but also evaluate correctly a student’s performance by taking various kinds of tests. These tests or examinations help to determine how much knowledge has been acquired and how much development of reasoning and analytical skills have taken place.

KINDS OF ASSESSMENT

Before a teacher starts teaching, it is imperative that he/she provide a baseline or a benchmark to determine former knowledge. Only after its establishment should the teacher proceed with the lessons and subsequent evaluation also called as Initial assessment/ Pre-assessment or Diagnostic assessments.

Educative assessment or ‘Formative assessment’ is done throughout the ongoing course. It is simply the provision of feedback on the student’s work. This kind of evaluation can be done by the teacher as well as the fellow classmates and can take the form of diagnostic or standardized tests.

Summative assessment is done at the end of a course or project. They are the main evaluative assessments wherein the final grades are assigned to the students, based on the performance of their formative assignments and summative test results.

Criterion-referenced assessment is done when the student’s performance is evaluated against a pre defined objective or criteria.  Norm-referenced assessment is a great way of comparing students’ performances. e.g., IQ test

A Formal assessment is a systematic evaluation usually taken written wherein a student is graded on his performance, e.g. a written test. An informal assessment is very different. It is more casual and the student is questioned in a relaxed manner.

Internal assessments are very common. Usually it’s the teacher teaching the subject who grades or marks the assignment. External assessment is the evaluation done by an examiner who is non-biased. Usually, external examiners are called from a different school or college or they can be members of your school but are not the subject teachers of the particular class they are grading.

Evaluation plays a vital role in formulating effective teaching strategies. This is why the true purpose of assessment should be that children,

• Learn and acquire desired skills related to different subject areas

• Acquire a level of achievement in different subject areas in the requisite measure

• Develop child’s individual skills, interests, attitudes and motivation

• Understand and lead a healthy and productive life

• Monitor the changes taking place in child’s learning, behavior and progress over a period of time

• Respond to different situations and opportunities both in and out of school

• Apply what is learnt in a variety of environment, circumstances and situations

• Work independently, collaboratively and harmoniously

• Analyze and evaluate

• Be aware of social and environmental issues

• Participate in social and environmental projects

• Retain what is learned over a period of time

Source: http://educational-assessments.blogspot.in/

CBSE’s new Evaluation Pattern: CCE

“CCE helps in improving student’s performance by identifying his/her learning difficulties at regular time intervals right from the beginning of the academic session and employing suitable remedial measures for enhancing their learning performance. The scheme of continuous and comprehensive evaluation has inbuilt flexibility for schools to plan their own academic schedules as per specified guidelines on CCE.”

-CBSE, New Delhi

In this article we shall take a look at the three main features of CBSE’s latest education and educational assessment system.

1. The Brand New Education Pattern
2. The New Evaluation Scheme
3. The Grading Scheme

On your Toes!

Yes, this sums up CBSE’s new approach to education. The CCE pattern given by CBSE for classes VI to X, is a marked departure from the old conventional teaching and examination system where the student was tested thrice and even once annually at many places.

The CCE pattern stands for Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. This new healthy pattern has been introduced with a view to nurture and develop every aspect of a child’s personality as he grows; and considerably lessen the study pressure and examination fear in students.

CCE pattern focuses on the development of these four skills:

• Investigation of the situation/topic,
• Deductive Method wherein the student makes explains a given situation/topic based on his previous knowledge,
• Co-relation with a real life situation and,
• Use of Information Technology i.e. how can the problem-situation be resolved with the use of information technology?

The four best features of this pattern are:

1. 6 Exams (4 Formative Assessments + 2 Summative Assessments) spread over the year.
2. No repetition of syllabus already covered by the previous tests.
3. Small course portions to decrease the pressure of studies
4. Oral reports, presentations and projects as part of the test scheme

Formative tests are conducted four times in an academic session, and carry 40% weightage during the final assessment. In addition to this, various assignments like projects, models, charts, group work, worksheet, survey, seminar, etc. are given to the students.

Summative assessments are three hour long written tests conducted twice a year. The first summative or Summative Assessment 1(SA-1) will be conducted after the first two formatives are completed. The second (SA-2) are conducted after the next two formatives. Each summative carries a 30% weightage and both together hold a 60% weightage during the finals.

New Scheme of Evaluation:

As a part of the new assessment plan, students are graded through a series of curricular and extra-curricular evaluations along with academics. This is done to foster an all round development of the student. Grades are awarded to students based on work experience skills, dexterity, innovation, steadiness, teamwork, public speaking, behavior, etc. It helps to instill confidence and bring to the forefront the talent of those students who are shy or do not perform so well academically.

The Final Assessment:

In the CCE pattern, emphasis on self improvement is given. Instead of letting students compete for marks, the CCE allows for grading wherein students work to better their own grades and not worry about losing to another child due to half a mark or one mark!

At the end of the session, the final results are calculated in the following manner.

Formative Assessment Weightage = 40%

Summative Assessment Weightage = 60%

The formative score is added to the summative score, i.e. 40% + 60% = 100%. Depending upon the percentage obtained, the board will deduce the CGPA and thereby determine the final grade. Along with this an optional online aptitude test is conducted to help students decide the choice of subjects for further studies.

Touch New Technologies with Genee Powerboard

If you are in search of a whiteboard which could serve your purpose in the best possible way, then your search ends here. The highly innovative Interactive whiteboard- Genee Powerboard is a new technology that utilizes infrared technologies to give unparalleled performance in the board room, conference suite or even classroom. This means, you can easily use this Digital whiteboard even like an ordinary whiteboard!


Only with Genee Powerboard you’ll get an advantage of recording your presentations and teaching sessions in advance. For instance, if you are a teacher or a professional who is planning to go off the job for few days due to some emergency, even then you can instantly record your teaching lessons on your personal computer, save in a pen drive and get it played in your classroom or presentation hall in your absence. Miraculously, this is possible! This wonderful feature; which you won’t get in any other whiteboard- it is called a Screen Recorder function. This means, that whatever you write on your computer or on Genee Powerboard gets recorded and can be played back on a PC or Genee Powerboard in the exact order it was recorded.

Best of all, Genee Powerboard carries an innovative Gesture Technology which makes you smoothly open, close, flip, scroll, zoom and fling images and data just with your fingers. Its immensely useful Software Toolbar is easy to use by both teachers and students. It carries an excellent Rover function that gives an added advantage of moving the page up and down without erasing the text again and again as each and every slide carried endless page length. So keep on writing!

The excellence of this wonderful interactive whiteboard doesn’t ends here. Genee Powerboard also got a sleek Pen Tray with 3 colored dummy pens, a dummy duster and a stick. The best part is that if pen go missing, you can write with your fingers in various styles as incredible technology lies in the pen tray and not in the pen.

Genee Scope- The First of its Kind Ergonomic Designed Microscope for Classrooms of Today

Genee Scope is a ‘Sensible’ Microscope which can outsmart Traditional Microscopes in every way. Some of the excellent features which this 21st century Digital microscope carries are as follows:-

Extremely Portable and Interoperable
Portability is the best feature this Student Presentation Microscope carries. Because of its portability teachers can comfortably carry it from one classroom to another classroom. It’s easy to carry sleek structure along with its sturdy base turns it an easy to store gadget.

Immensely Interoperable
Genee Scope is a wondrous digital microscope which can be easily connected to Laptop, Computer and Interactive whiteboard using USB connectivity to visualize things invisible things. Things which are impossible to see with naked eyes like dust particles, microorganisms, Blood samples, water samples etc. can be easily seen with the help of Genee Scope.

Excellent Magnification range
Unlike traditional bulky cameras, Genee Scope consists of compact battery compartment, bright LED lighting, removable camera/ Magnification head with magnification range up to 100 times which makes it excellent for viewing specimens or slides and capturing its snap shots as well.

Best suited for visually impaired students
Genee Scope is intelligently designed to provide a clear view of smallest and tiniest particles to visually imparted students as well.

Ergonomic shape
Genee Scope is specially designed by keeping ease and comfort of students in mind. The Ergonomic shape and structure of this Digital Microscope is best suited for younger students. It’s easy to grip handle for up and down movement of lens gives them an easy focus.

Robust designing
Electronic Digital Microscope is robustly housed in a sturdy plastic case ensuring high durability and minimum cleaning requirements. Moreover, Genee Scope doesn’t have any moving parts as well which makes it a most preferred option within students and teachers of today.

USB connection
Last but not the least; it has USB connection to magnify, capture and modify the images.

Besides these superb features; Genee Scope is also environmental friendly, durable, carry no power issues and does rapid focusing instantly.

Formative Summative Assessment

Educational assessment is the method of measuring the knowledge, skills, understanding and attitude of a learner. There are various categories of assessment. Formative and summative is one of them.

Formative assessment is an assessment for learning in which feedback from learners is used to make the teaching, meet the learners’ need. This type of assessment is carried out throughout a learning session and is not necessarily used for grading purpose. Through formative assessment, a teacher can measure students’ current knowledge and skills, so that pedagogy can be adapted to students’ needs.

Summative assessment is an assessment of learning in which learners are evaluated for there knowledge and understanding of a course. This type of assessment is carried out at the end of a learning session or set of learning sessions and is used for grading purpose. Through summative assessment, a teacher can determine up to which extent students are able to learn, what they were supposed to learn.

Educators can do formative and summative assessment of students with modern ICT assessment tool – student response systems (also known as interactive voting system, interactive response system, classroom response system, and audience response system).The innovative response systems removes the barriers of learning by doing formative and summative assessment in a fun and interactive manner. The response system increases engagement of student in the lessons and aids in personalised learning. Response systems are generally used in the following mode. First, a teacher asked questions from his handset in different formats such as yes or no, multiple choice question, numeric, text, alphanumeric etc to the students. The students read the question and give their responses to the questions using wireless handsets. The response systems have a radio frequency receiver integrated to the educator’s computer that receives the responses of the students, send by their handsets. The response systems software installed on educator computer produces reports in the form of graphic charts such as bar chart and pie chart showing the number of student participated in the test and their answers. Teacher can track individual responses, gather data for reporting and analysis of student using Interactive response systems. The results can be exported to various file formats like excel, PDF, HTML etc. Teachers then use these reports to do formative and summative assessment of the student and enhance their learning skills.


Source:- Formative and Summative Assessment Tool