As far as I can establish this is both to assess the performance of the particular learner as well as the school/district, to see if they are on track and doing ok. It does not go towards their pass mark for the year but is used as a tool to decide if intervention is required, on either an individual or whole school/district basis - I THINK.
I found this which explains:
ANA is intended to provide regular, well-timed, valid and credible data on learner achievement in the education system. Assessment of learners' performance in the GET Band (Grades 1- 9) has previously been done at school level. Unlike examinations that are designed to inform decisions on learner promotion and progression, ANA data is meant to be used for both diagnostic purposes at individual learner level and decision-making purposes at systemic level.
At the individual learner level, the ANA results will provide teachers with empirical evidence on what the learner can and/or cannot do at a particular stage or grade and do so at the beginning of the school year. Schools will inform parents of their child's ANA performance in March 2011.
At systemic level, ANA provides reliable data for policy decisions related to provision and support required at various levels of the system. The ANA will make it easier for district offices to determine where support is most urgently needed and by allowing principals, teachers and parents to plan in a more informed manner how to improve performance.
The ANA will be administered and marked by teachers, moderated by districts. At national level, the DBE will also sample scripts for moderation (limited to Grades 3, 6 and 9) to check if marking was done consistently across districts and provinces. Schools will then report individual learner results to the learner's parents. In the schools that shall be sampled for independent external verification of ANA at Grades 3, 6 and 9 marking and reporting to the Minister will be done by an independent agent.
Anyway the boy's got their reports today and this is how they've faired:
Quinn - Grade 6
Language - 90% (Grade average of school 79%)
Mathematics - 72% (Grade average of school 69%)
Griffin - Grade 4
Language - 76% (Grade average of school 77%)
Mathematics - 86% (Grade average of school 83%)
Considering they get very little homework supervision or extra coaching, I'd say they are doing pretty darn well.
Oh they are. But I am wondering if you read my post about these and my worries about the average standards in our schools.
ReplyDeleteHi Cat, I am not sure that I did see that post of yours, I'll take a look for it to check... but I must say our school generally has a very high standards and is pretty ahead of the curve. The high school is always listed in the top 10 schools in the country and often makes it into the top 3. And we always have top performers in the maths competitions.
ReplyDeleteHere's the post -http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2012/10/on-schools-and-such.html Now her school is apparently in the top 3 in Pretoria but they got 88% for maths and Home language - I mean that is plain rediculous as is the fatc that she got 100% for both. I mean, what do these tests then mean? That other schools get what?
DeleteHi Cat thanks. I am pretty sure it is correct. Don't forget that we are fortunate to have our kids in the *best* government schools (which are of the calibre of the private schools) there is a huge range between these and the less privileged schools (like the one we visited the other week-end). Also our children have arguably superior intellectual capacity too. So they are in the top half of the best schools... it adds up I think. I am quite certain there are schools where the results look way different.
ReplyDelete