KNEC Reveals Challenges Encountered in KPSEA Assessment Administration
Samuel Ouko, Kenya National Examination Council Senior Examinations Officer, has disclosed many issues that the institution faced while administering the Grade 6 KPSEA tests in 2022 and 2023.
Ouko observed that one of Knec’s problems was teachers’ inability to evaluate assessment scores and reports for students and other stakeholders.
Ouko mentioned that there was also a high rate of absenteeism among learners during assessment. He addressed Nairobi on Wednesday at the first Annual Symposium on Competency-Based Assessment.
According to Ouko, teachers had inadequate capacity to construct authentic assessment methods. He claims that this makes it impossible for students to respond to the authentic assessment assignments developed by Knec.
He emphasized the importance of building teachers’ capacity so that they can develop their assessment tools.
In addition, Ouko stated that other subjects, such as Arts and Crafts, Music, Home Science, and Hindu Religious Education, lacked technical staff or professional teachers.
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The KNEC official also mentioned that there were more students registered in Grade 3 than those who took the KPSEA in Grade 6. He questioned where some students went after enrolling in Grade 3.
He emphasized the importance of schools registering learners in Grade 3 as outlined in the assessment regulations.
Furthermore, according to Ouko, most people only associate KPSEA with the Grade 6 summative assessment, but schools also administer the KPSEA formative assessment starting in Grade 4 or 5.
He stated that KPSEA is an umbrella of two assessments, the formative and the summative, at Grade 6.
According to Ouko, the goal of the Grade 6 assessment is to track a learner’s progress and offer suggestions for policy development.
He expressed that through KPSEA, they could identify the gaps and provide suggested remedies for teachers in classrooms to enhance the instruction and performance of learners.
He mentioned that students at the KPSEA summative level, Grade 6, are required to individually respond to the given multiple-choice questions.
Students are required to complete work individually or collaboratively at the KPSEA formative level. According to Ouko, this level aims to foster creativity by utilizing locally available learning materials.
After the examinations, Knec can evaluate the results using four performance levels.
The learner is performing above expectations at Level 4. The learner demonstrates excellent competencies that surpass the standards of the targeted curriculum outcome.
At Level 3, the student meets expectations and can complete the assigned activity. At Level 2, the learner is approaching expectations and demonstrating some of the competencies necessary for the assignment.
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At Level 1, the learner performs below expectations. At this level, the student performs poorly in the competencies examined.
Ouko highlighted the fact the fact that three reports were produced following the KPSEA summative assessment.
He mentioned that they have the individual learner report, followed by the issuance of the school-specific report and the national report, which they are currently working on.
KNEC Reveals Challenges Encountered in KPSEA Assessment Administration
