The secondary 1 students taking the communicative arts (language arts) programme do not have a common test (summative test) in Term 1, but they have regular formative assessments that include narrative essay writing and drama. The school engaged an external vendor to introduce drama (Shakespeare's Macbeth) to the kids. They were divided into groups of 4 or 5 and had to perform some lines from Macbeth, and they were assessed on their performance. This would form a small per cent of their year-end grade. Both formative and summative assessments throughout the year would contribute towards their year-end grade (summative assessments would have higher weightage).
There are also both formative and summative assessments for the other levels. There will be common tests each term--these grades will form a certain per cent of their year-end grade. These tests include essay questions on unseen poetry and text-based questions on novels/ drama. Before the common tests, there will be practices/ practice tests that follow the same structure of the common tests. Grades for the practice tests will not affect the year-end grade. Worksheets also constitute formative assessments, and most of them do not affect the year-end grade as well.
It seems as if the school places so much emphasis on tests and exams that SOWs seem to revolve strictly around them (secondary 2-4), and it becomes difficult to factor in hands-on activities or activities that involve longer/ in-depth/ exploratory questioning and discussions. This is, of course, a subjective opinion; there may be many other things that are going on and I may be unaware of them.
"The school engaged an external vendor to introduce drama (Shakespeare's Macbeth) to the kids. They were divided into groups of 4 or 5 and had to perform some lines from Macbeth, and they were assessed on their performance." - who assessed their performance - the vendor or the teacher?
ReplyDeletethe vendor. the vendor would pass the teacher the assessment grades and remarks.
Delete