CHENNAI: A new education assessment model may soon find root in Tamil Nadu to help students to be competent and go beyond scoring marks alone. Aimed at improving learning assessment and redefine the objective of assessment itself, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has joined hands with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), American Institute of Research (AIR) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to develop a road map to transform the existing assessment methodologies.
Using a two-year-long capacity building programme called “Strengthening Systemic Capacity on Learning Assessment and Use of Data for Improving Learning” - the council plans to analyse the strengths and pitfalls of the current testing and assessment model used in the State in the first phase.
“In the long run, we want to develop a model that will enhance the competency of students and enable them to face change and uncertainty. It should not judge students based on knowledge alone, but on their application skills,” said Ratna Dhamija, from AIR adding that such systemic transformation is the only way to produce better learning outcomes.
The goals of the assessment programme include training State education staff in the key features of high-quality assessment design, development, implementation, analysis, reporting and data use. Essentially, the programme will also help educators come up with reliable ways to quantify outcomes and record it systematically. This programme is also said to help build a community of specialists leading to sustainable evolution of assessment models in future.
Through the course of the two years, SCERT will be conducting tests and collecting data, based on which the new assessment pattern will be created. “We have narrowed the study, to Classes VII and IX. We are starting with three subjects, Mathematics, Tamil and English,” an official from SCERT said adding that towards the end of two years, a pilot study of the new assessment model will be conducted in four districts.
A sample of educators from District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) and government schools have been chosen to attend the programme. Based on the outcome of this programme, a new assessment methodology will be integrated into the State’s education system, the official said.
Strengths & pitfalls
Using a two-year-long programme called “Strengthening Systemic Capacity on Learning Assessment and Use of Data for Improving Learning” - the council plans to analyse the strengths and pitfalls of the current testing and assessment model used in the State in the first phase
Pilot study
Through the course of the two years, SCERT will be conducting tests and collecting data. “We have narrowed the study, to Classes VII and IX. We are starting with three subjects, Mathematics, Tamil and English,” an official from SCERT said adding that towards the end of two years, a pilot study of the new assessment model will be conducted in four districts