ANA

This blog post was written on September 18, but was not able to posted until now.  I apologize for the confusion. 

The Annual National Assessment is now only one short day away.  This will be the second year that the country of South Africa will be using this national assessment.  Schools are very nervous, students are unsure, and workshops are being held to get everyone ready for what is to come.  In the workshop I attended last week for all teachers, I learned a few things about this ANA exam that were very interesting to me.   

                First, this exam is for all schools, whether they are public or private.  Private schools are still funded by the government in order to make it each year.  The scores received on these exams are very important for private schools, because their subsidy for the next year will be determined based on their performance.  Public schools are allotted a particular amount of money based on the amount of students that attend the school.   I was told that the government gives funds for one teacher per 40 students.  Now there are many schools around the area, but the small schools are being forced to shut down as they are having to have 1 teacher for 3 or 4 different grades.  You can all imagine the complications of this, so many schools are transitioning their students into other schools for the coming year (in January).  Private schools, however, are different, and their subsidy has been decreasing greatly over the past many years.  Now the subsidy will be determined by test scores.  This difference between public and private schools is beginning to be quite a rivalry.  Public schools do not like private schools, and therefore want to use scores from this national assessment to prove their superiority and have the private schools pay if they receive bad scores. 

                Secondly, all of the tests are graded at the school by the teachers.  The test is taken by grades 1-4, grade 6, and grade 9.  After the test is taken, the answer sheets and score sheets are given to the teacher of that grade for marking.  While it is clear what the answers are supposed to be, there is much room for variation based on the writing of the student.  Even looking at the grading that my cooperating teacher was completing that was modeled after this style showed me that many teachers are going to manipulate their children’s answers to have them receive higher scores.  Teachers should not be given this power, but I guess this is just my humble opinion.  There is no continuity amongst schools, and the scores really do not have valid meaning when this is how they are marked.  Each school, however, must submit grade 6 tests for formal marking.  So this grade will be marked ‘professionally,’ and maybe they will use these scores as a measure of how the other grades should have performed.  Then, the school must also send 3 scripts from each grade for sampling.  This is good, and will help to check up on the schools grading, but it still is not at all a fool-proof method.

                Thirdly, I found it interesting listening to the rules on invigilation, or administering the exam.  While many of the rules were similar to what I have experienced before, it was interesting being with a group of teachers who were not used to these rules.  There were many questions, and many of the comments or reminders of the rules struck me as funny on occasion.  One of the rules that made me laugh quite a bit was written as follows: Do not read, smoke, or knit in the room during testing time.” It’s moments like this that I remember I am not in the United States culture anymore!  Other rules and reminders included walking around the students desks while monitoring, being mobile and attentive, not giving too much information to a student.  Other topics included what to do when a student is ill, what happens if a student cheats, and what to do if the question papers are incomplete.  Students must be seated for 45 minutes before the exam begins (which may prove to be quite an issue for my grade 1 students!).  Also, grade 1 and 2 will have the exam read to them, which I found to be interesting.  I am very curious as to whether or not teachers will stick exactly to the script when they see students struggling.  But the workshop was a success for preparing the teachers and making everyone more nervous for what is coming!

So, in order to receive a passing score, students must perform above 40 out of 100.  This sounds like it should be no problem, but based on the test and students’ ability to read and write English, this may be quite a struggle for many learners.  The pressure is on, and the race between public and private schools in on.  Since grade 3 and grade 6 are the two target grades for this exam, and since I have been in charge of much of the grade 3 teaching as of late, I am quite nervous as to how they will perform.  I gave each student a colorful pencil and eraser I had brought with me from the US, the pencil of knowledge.  They were so excited, and I told them a story about a boy and a magic pencil, which they found quite entertaining.  So, while I am still just a student teacher, I guess I am getting a little taste of how nerve racking national assessments truly can be.  I guess all I can do now is pray they are able to do their best come test day!