Dept raises senior phase pass marks

[MickeyD]

The basic education department on Sunday said it had raised the pass mark for Grades 7, 8 and 9 for 2014.

"This is in keeping with the department's plan to raise the benchmark for learning achievement," said spokesman Elijah Mhlanga in a statement.

Students will now be required to pass eight of their nine subjects.

Previously, they could be promoted having passed only seven.

Students will also have to obtain 50 percent in their home language and 40 percent for their first additional language. This raises the requirements for languages by 10 percent in both subjects.

No condonation will be allowed.

Mhlanga said the department was aware that mid-year performances had been "adversely"affected.

"It would be unfair to the 2014 cohort of learners to bear the brunt of a systemic change," he said.

"There is a need for the department to manage the transition and the possible depressed learner performance."

School heads and district managers had been provided with guidelines to follow a "closely controlled and strictly managed process," if necessary.

"Where there is a substantial drop in the school performance, the district manager will make adjustments to the results within clearly defined parameters."

The changes in promotion requirements are part of the implementation of the curriculum and assessment policy statements (CAPS).

"It is anticipated that overall school performance in 2014 at the senior phase, despite the DBE intervention, will be lower than previous years," said Mhlanga.

However, he said the results must be seen as an "outcome of a high skills, high knowledge curriculum and improved assessment standards."

Source : Sapa /ml/jje
Date : 23 Nov 2014 16:08

 

[zizo911]

Finally... they are getting some sense. Real world numbers are coming into play

 

[rrh]

Finally... they are getting some sense. Real world numbers are coming into play

I agree.

OTOH who can predict the outcome of the following statement :

"Where there is a substantial drop in the school performance, the district manager will make adjustments to the results within clearly defined parameters."

 

[LazyLion]

They will change it back once they realise that this decision was "influenced by apartheid institutions".

 

[HDS]

Math mother****ers. Raise the pass mark for math.

 

[CataclysmZA]

OTOH who can predict the outcome of the following statement:

"Where there is a substantial drop in the school performance, the district manager will make adjustments to the results within clearly defined parameters."

Most likely chopping out any problem questions and lowering the mark overall for all learners to even out the results.

 

[lived666]

Finally... they are getting some sense. Real world numbers are coming into play

I don't see any primary schools holding kids back, we would end up with inflated grade 7's. A huge percentage of grade 8's are no where near high school ready, primary schools just push them through, and its goodbye and good riddance.

 

[Seriously]

Not going to comment on this local idiocracy!

 

[Albereth]

I see thick people everywhere.

They've done nothing other than rearrange some deckchairs. Raising the pass mark from 40% to 50% for home language (as an example) and then adding 10% to the students' scores does nothing.

 

[^^vampire^^]

You get an extra 10%, you get an extra 10%, everybody gets an 10%!!!

 

[reactor_sa]

Watch the dropout rate increase in all public non model c schools....

 

[Humberto]

The pass mark is just a number. What matters is how good the learner needs to be to get that pass mark; are questions calibrated in a way that those, and only those, learners who demonstrate the necessary skill in the subject, achieve that pass mark, be it 30 % or 50 % ?

 

[R13...]

It is stupid that they lowered the passing mark in the lower grades to begin with. I never even realised it was lower than 50%.

 

[McSack]

They will change it back once they realise that this decision was "influenced by apartheid institutions".

Well ... that didn't take very long now did it ... :erm:

JOHANNESBURG – The Basic Education Department has told schools across the country to adjust exam scores for pupils in grades 7, 8 and 9.

The department says the recent decision to raise the pass requirements for these grades has put too many pupils at risk of failing.

....
sauce

What a bunch of tools. Youth are becoming less and less employable every year.

 

[Beachless]

Will they be dropping the standard to compensate for the higher pass rate?

 

[McSack]

Will they be dropping the standard to compensate for the higher pass rate?

... course not ... just increase exam marks so that everyone gets more for nothing.

 

[JungleBoy]

Decrease the pass mark and moaners will moan. Increase the pass mark and they moan even more..

 

[daveza]

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-afr...o-adjust-pupils-scores-1.1785261#.VHL6rIuUd8E

Schools told to adjust pupils’ scores

November 24 2014 at 10:56am
By Leanne Jansen
Durban - The raising of the pass mark for pupils in grades 7, 8 and 9 this year has put so many at risk of failing that the Basic Education Department has instructed schools across the country to adjust pupils’ scores and award extra marks.

In an effort to improve the quality of education in the public school system, the department raised the standard required to pass these grades - but with unforeseen consequences.



Last year, pupils in these grades only had to pass seven of their nine subjects, and earn 40% in one official language and 30% in a second official language, to be promoted.

But, with the introduction of the new Caps curriculum, this year’s crop have had to pass eight of their nine subjects, score at least 50% in their home language, and a minimum of 40% for their first additional language.

And, whereas last year pupils may have been granted a “condoned pass” in one of their subjects, that allowance fell away this year.

The department said intensive teacher training and the provision of learning and teaching support material had preceded the introduction of the new curriculum.

Department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga argued that it was the case elsewhere in the world, too, that changes to the curriculum resulted in some “instability”.

From this year’s June exam results, it had become apparent that the new pass requirements had caused a dip in marks.

Reports from provincial education departments were that the impact was worse than expected.

“It would therefore be unfair to the 2014 cohort of learners to bear the brunt of a systemic change, and there is a need for the department to manage the transition and the possible depressed learner performance,” Mhlanga said.

The national department has opted to issue provincial education departments with guidelines on how pupils’ marks should be adjusted, so that this year’s scores do not differ too drastically from the average performance of previous years.

“Where there is a substantial drop in the school performance, the district manager will make adjustments to the results within clearly defined parameters,” Mhlanga said.

Even with the tweaking of the marks, the overall academic performance of pupils in grades 7, 8 and 9 (called the senior phase) is expected to be lower this year than in previous years.

“This is the outcome of a high-skills, high-knowledge curriculum, and improved assessment standards,” Mhlanga said. He added that the “intervention” was in line with moderation and standardisation practices adopted “the world over” as a quality assurance tool, and a mechanism to manage anomalies that were the consequence of change.

In a circular from the national department last Friday, principals were instructed to determine the following statistics:

* The overall pass percentage for grades 7, 8 and 9 for this year.

* The overall pass percentage for grades 7, 8 and 9 for each of the previous three years.

* The average pass percentage for the previous three years, combined, for grades 7, 8 and 9.

The circular states that if the overall pass percentage for any of the grades in this year is more than 5% lower than the average for the previous three years, the results of pupils at that school and for that specific grade must be adjusted, so that the difference is within a 5% range.