Module 9 Unit 3 Activity 1
Research Title: Study the Effect of Current Formative Assessment Methods on Achieving Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) Objectives
According to UNESCO, 47 million Indian youth drop out of school by 10th grade. Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is a key policy that affects student retention and advancement to higher education. Pedagogical advances in formative assessment practices foster self-regulation and improves teaching-learning experiences. Therefore, this study will consider the effect of formative assessments on CCE Objectives in grades 9 – 12 of CBSE-affiliated schools.
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is one of the most popular and well recognized national boards for various public and private schools throughout India. In 2009 they adopted assessment guidelines that were mandated by the national policy, Right To Education Act’s addendum called Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluations (CCE)
The CCE requires students to receive 40% of their annual grades from formative assessments. It also mandated a minimum of 4 formative assessments but the schools had the option to use various forms of formative assessments and various grading scales.
The CBSE board, in turn, released a mandate for all CBSE-based schools to conform to the minimum of 4 formative assessments per academic year, and these grades should contribute towards 40% of the students overall grade
For the last ten years, most of the CBSE-based schools have followed the CCE policy without sharing the spirit of the CCE. The word continuous implies on going and periodic assessments, formative in nature, to assess student learning and inform teaching instructions. Comprehensive suggests assessing both scholastic and non-scholastic content.
Schools meet the currently prescribed minimum requirements of 4 formative assessments per academic year – FA1 and FA2 in the first semester followed by FA3 and FA4 in the second semester. These 4 assessments test students on two to three chapters worth of content and in many ways acts as a summative review that does not allow students to revisit content and show mastery. It also does not inform teachers instruction strategy, need for differentiation, remedial interventions or retesting.
In this study, secondary and higher secondary teachers (Grade 9th – 12th) in CBSE schools will be responding to open-ended questions on their process of creating and administering the 4 formative assessments. The responses will be studied using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), a qualitative method that employs hermeneutics (interpretation and creation of meaning) and idiographic (personal prespective/specific phenomenon) evaluation of the responses. From these evaluations, themes that underpin the purpose of of formative assessments, according to the teachers, can be determined and mapped against the purpose of CCE as stated in the RTE Act.
The CCE and CBSE protocols lists 11 main features of formative assessments. The questionnaire will require participating teachers to provide an example of a formative assessment created for one of their classes in grades 9 – 12, and determine which of the 11 features are addressed in the design and content covered in the assessment.
The scope is limited teachers who work in CBSE-based schools teaching STEM or English to grades 9, 10, 11 or 12.. However, prior training and experience is not being taken into consideration at this time. Most often, senior teachers are teaching higher grade levels.
Some of the literature being considered are:
Education Globalization Teacher Lab 