Is it only to prepare the students academically, or instill bookish knowledge?
Before we speak about the importance of continuous and comprehensive evaluation, let us understand the shortcomings of the traditional educational system.
The traditional educational system has been running on the same cyclical pattern. In this, the students enroll themselves in the institute and attend classes. The classes are conducted with blackboard teaching, monotonous learning, and a lack of discernible interest of the students.
These methods of education are aimed at preparing the learners just to qualify for the examinations.
A wholesome development of students is the major objective of education which includes the intellectual, physical, social, moral, ethical, emotional aspects. A cornerstone for providing the ideal kind of education to the students is by creating a cooperative learning environment.
A wholesome development can only be ensured if the educators pay attention to:
- Cognitive abilities
- Affective abilities
- Psychomotor abilities
A better way to assess a student’s progress in a wholesome manner is via Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation.
What is Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)?
CCE or Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation is a process of evaluating the child’s development in all the school-related activities. This proposal was directed under the Right to Education Act in 2009 by the Central Board of Secondary Education of India and the state governments in India.
Using CCE, teachers can diagnose learners’ deficiencies using a variety of assessment activities. After completing the assessment activities, learners are given valuable feedback. The teacher guides and supports them to identify problem areas.
The assessments of the performance include both scholastic and co-scholastic activities. Curricular and core subjects-related areas are included within scholastic activities whereas life skills, attitudes, and values are included within co-scholastic activities.
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A) Scholastic Assessment
Scholastic areas comprise all the activities that are related to various subjects within the academic curricular. In this, the educator aims to align the cognitive domain objectives along with different subjects.
To get a better understanding of this they can refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy which is a framework to classify learning objectives.
- Knowledge- This indicates the elaborate details associated with the subject matter. It further includes the ability to recall any information about the structure, pattern, and setting
- Comprehension- This indicates the ability to understand whatever he/she is listening to and implementing it when and if required
- Application- This indicates the ability to apply any theory or principle to solve a problem
- Analysis- The ability to identify faults and fallacies
- Synthesis- This relates to combining separate entities and elements into a whole
- Evaluation- Ability to conclude something after thoughtful analysis of given variables
The educators must ensure that the students participate in various activities in all the subject areas. If the student falters anywhere the teacher should guide him/her accordingly. The learning objectives can only be achieved through active engagement from the students combined with productive feedback and guidance from the teachers. Hence, the continuous and comprehensive evaluation is important.
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B) Co-scholastic Assessment
It has been a long and repetitive practice of most schools to focus more on the scholastic activities than the co-scholastic activities. With major educational reforms introduced over the years, schools and colleges alike have emphasized co-curricular activities. These activities include:
- Life Skills
- Attitude
- Social Values
Life skills
The essential abilities that enable an individual to deal with any given situation tactfully and effectively are called life skills. These are psycho-social and interpersonal skills that help people to make decisions, judgments, innovation and creativity and enhance one’s productivity.
UNICEF, UNESCO, and WHO have enlisted ten core life skills that is instrumental in dealing with daily challenges and overcoming difficulties. The core skills are as follows:
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Decision making
- Problem-solving
- Interpersonal relationship skills
- Effective communication
- Coping with stress
- Coping with emotions
How to Assess Life Skills?
- Individual assessment: This includes any activity or task which is performed by any student individually.
- Group assessment: This includes any single project or assignment that is assigned to a group of students wherein they collaborate and complete the task.
- Self-assessment: Based on given criteria the students are supposed to evaluate their progress, understanding of subjects, knowledge, and skills, etc.
- Peer-assessment: In this particular assessment students are paired in a group wherein one student assesses the work of another.
Attitude
One of the most assured ways to identify a student’s outlook and state of mind is through his/her behavior and attitude in the classroom. The teachers must focus on the student’s development of healthy behavior and attitude towards their teachers, peers, classmates, programs of the school, and the whole school environment.
How to Assess the Students’ Attitude?
Various techniques which can be utilized effectively to assess the student’s behavior are as follows:
- Self-report inventories
- Attitude scales
- Survey
- Interview
- The biographical and essay methods
- Projective tests
- Error-choice techniques
- Indirect observation
Co-curricular Activities
The growing concern for the holistic development of students has urged the schools to put equal emphasis on co-curricular activities which include various recreational games and sports. It has been discovered that sports and any other activities contribute to beneficial physical development, character education, and social skills.
Some of the noteworthy co-curricular activities include :
- Debates
- Sports competition
- Cultural programs
- Story writing
- Drama club
- Yoga
- Drawing
Key Benefits of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation
- A very common occurrence among students is that they get extremely stressed out due to exams. CCE is a useful tool that can be used to reduce the anxiety or fear which clouds their minds whenever the exams approach.
- The CCE evaluates learning needs and abilities of students. With CCE, students can constantly test their abilities and put their best foot forward. It allows teachers and students to identify the areas where students need more help.
- CCE helps teachers to systematize their strategies for effective teaching. Continual evaluation allows the teacher to detect weaknesses and identify certain students’ learning styles. By identifying a student’s learning difficulties on a regular basis, it helps in improving student performance.
- CCE is child-centric and treats each student as an individual. It aims to build on the unique abilities, strengths, and development of each child.
- Continuous and comprehensive assessment which is a crucial part of this evaluation structure helps to assess the progress of the students.
- The CCE provides teachers with various assessment activities that allow them to diagnose students’ defects. The teacher’s feedback helps the students to identify problem areas and helps them improve their performance.
How can MasterSoft help to implement Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation in a school?
Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation is a school-based analysis procedure that is distinguished by the evaluation of the students throughout the instructional process. Multiple techniques of evaluation need to be implemented to assess the progress of the students.
MasterSoft being the leading Edtech facilitator has onboarded many schools & met their educational needs. With the help of its advanced Learning Management System (LMS) any school can create various tests and assignments for the students. This will not only help to develop multiple tests but also help to keep track of student’s progress.
