This study is a qualitative enquiry into the experiences of grade 12 Business Studies educators in the process of compiling school-based assessment portfolios for learners in 2009. It answers the question: “What are the primary challenges in the process of compiling School Based Assessment (SBA) portfolios for FET Business Studies? The literature review covers the strengths and limitations of portfolio-based assessment as a strategy for combining formative and summative assessment purposes, the complexities of curriculum change and implementation, and bureaucratic and professional forms of accountability. In order to understand what is involved in the portfolio assessment implementation processes, I analyzed six assessment policy documents, two circulars and two Chief Moderators’ reports. I also interviewed four teachers and four principals, two each from more and less advantaged schools in Johannesburg. Findings from the document analysis illustrate the incomplete and at times contradictory nature of the assessment policies and circulars, while the interviews highlighted a lack of communication and mutual adaption between stake holders in the compilation of SBA portfolios. The key recommendation is that the concept of mutual adaptation may be useful to overcoming the challenges encountered in SBA portfolio compilation.

This study presents a Therapeutic Assessment-based method of psychological assessment for use in elementary schools. It focuses on work with the assessed student’s teacher in cases in which conflict between the student and teacher results in a “stuck” relationship. It seeks to improve the student-teacher relationship, increase teacher empathy for the student, improve the usefulness of report recommendations, and reduce teacher stress. A multiple-baseline, single-case design is proposed. Visual analysis and effect size estimates will be the primary analyses used. / text

D. Phil. / School based assessment (SBA) or continuous assessment (CASS) as it is often referred to, includes all forms of assessment conducted by the teacher, at the classroom level, which are then collated for summative judgment purposes to feed into the exit point assessment result. Internationally there has been a search for more authentic forms of assessment and South Africa has also explored alternative forms of assessment so that the final assessment is not dominated by a once-off external summative examination. SBA was officially introduced as part of the assessment regime for the award of the Senior Certificate, in the South African education system, in 2001 and has subsequently been included as part of the assessment requirement for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) that replaced the Senior Certificate, in 2008. As much as SBA allows for a broader form of assessment of learning, it reduces the reliability of assessment and claims have been made that it impacts on the public confidence and credibility of the certificate. This is as a result of assessment now being conducted by teachers in the classroom, who are poorly equipped to implement SBA. Umalusi, the Quality Assurance Council, responsible for the final standard and quality of exit assessment has raised concerns about the reliability of SBA and therefore, to guard the credibility of the Senior Certificate and the National Senior Certificate, the Council has statistically moderated the SBA marks using the examination marks as a benchmark. This form of moderation has been regarded as not being the most appropriate, since it undermines the essence and purpose of this form of assessment. Therefore this study attempts to review the current form of quality assurance of SBA as it is implemented across all provincial education departments (PEDS), so as to develop an improved model for the quality assurance of SBA. In order to adequately contextualise the study, two of the key components of this study, that is, school based assessment (SBA) and quality assurance, were explored in detail in chapter two of the study. This chapter also evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of SBA, and then focused on the implementation and management of SBA in South Africa, its current status and challenges. The major challenges facing the South African schooling system, with regard to SBA, relate to: (a) the lack of a clear understanding of the specific purpose of SBA; (b) the policies, structures and processes for the implementation of SBA are grossly inadequate; (c) the reliance on statistical moderation of SBA has resulted in a lack of motivation to improve the quality of SBA; and therefore there is a need for creative thinking to ensure fairness in SBA.

Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) is a collaborative, standardized process that was developed as a way to address identified barriers to completing effective functional behavior assessments (FBAs) in public schools. Current research literature documents the effectiveness of the PTR process in decreasing problematic behaviors and increasing social skills and academic engaged time for students in kindergarten through 8th grade. In addition, PTR demonstrates high acceptability by school personnel implementing the process. While PTR has demonstrated success in schools, questions still exist regarding variables that impact the effectiveness of this process. Therefore, the current study investigated the moderating effect of prior teacher training in managing challenging behavior on the effectiveness of the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) process. Data regarding students' social skills, behavior problems, and academic engagement were analyzed through a series of mixed factorial analyses in order to determine the effectiveness of the PTR process. Results indicate that teachers' previous preparation in dealing with behavioral problems did not moderate the effectiveness of PTR, thus indicating that the process is equally beneficial to all teachers. However, time and the implementation of PTR were found to be significant in altering trends in student outcomes. Academic engaged time was found to be significantly altered more frequently than social skills or behavior problems. Implications of the findings for using the PTR process to address problematic student behavior in schools are discussed.

D.Phil. / In 2000, the incumbent Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal, mandated the inclusion of school based assessment (SBA) as a component of Senior Certificate (Grade 12) assessment across all examining bodies in the country. Prior to this, the Senior Certificate (Grade 12) examination was a “once off” terminal examination at the end of twelve years of schooling. The rationale for the inclusion of SBA as a component of the Senior Certificate (Grade 12) was to remove the focus from a high stakes examination to a more continuous form of assessment, that is school based, and one that assesses skills beyond the domains of an examination. Since SBA is implemented by teachers, it appears that the management of the moderation process at school level in not being done with the required diligence and thoroughness. This observation is based on various anecdotal reports, district reports and statistical moderation reports. This results in this assessment being questioned in terms of its reliability and validity. Therefore, this study attempts to review the current form of moderation of SBA as it is implemented in the Gauteng province, so as to develop an improved model for the management of moderation of SBA.

This study aimed to investigate whether there was evidence of variation in the quality of School-Based Assessment (SBA), with specific reference to Grade 9 mathematics. Assessment has been a prime focal point for educational reform in recent years. In the South African context, there are common external assessments carried out below Grade 12. However, assessments are placed entirely in the hands of individual teachers. Moderation and monitoring as quality assurance mechanisms are also conducted internally at varying degrees, which raises the issues regarding the validity, reliability, and credibility of SBA tasks. Learner achievement in mathematics had recently been a debated issue in national and international assessments. Furthermore, South Africa's Grade 9 learners have been performing below the expected levels in mathematics as compared to the rest of the world. A qualitative research approach was used within a case study research design. Purposeful sampling was employed, and five schools with 15 participants were selected. The data were collected through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, observations and field notes, and were triangulated by document analysis in order to make the findings and conclusions more reliable. This study revealed that there is a varying degree in the quality of mathematics SBA tasks, and a lack of knowledge about quality assurance mechanisms. In addition, the study revealed that the participating teachers lacked knowledge on how to develop high quality SBA tasks. This study followed Scheeren's input-process-output model (2004), which was further adapted to provide an opportunity to identify enhancing or impeding issues associated with the quality of SBA and learner achievement at Grade 9 level. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

This study aimed to investigate the role of classroom formative assessment practice in geography. Although geography enjoys a good pass rate percentage in the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, the concern remains about the average and the number of distinctions produced annually. A Framework for Learning-Oriented Assessment was used as a conceptual framework which guided this study. Research questions that guided this study aimed at investigating the possible role of classroom formative strategies or techniques on learner performance in geography, the extent to which School-Based Assessment (SBA) is used as a formative tool, the provision of feedback and the learners’ role in geography assessment. The qualitative data was collected through structured interviews, document analysis and observation involving six FET phase geography teachers from three different schools in Tshwane West District (D15). The findings of this study indicated that the participating Geography teachers in the FET phase were committed to using differential assessment practices in their classroom to improve their learners’ results. Though, their main focus was on summative assessment, and little attention was given to the formative assessment practice. It was against this background that this study recommended that Geography teachers should be formally trained/workshopped on assessment strategies. Secondly, there is a need to infuse SBA effectively as a formative assessment aspect of the curriculum in order to improve learner performance. Lastly, to further research the significance of assessment for learning in the South African context to strengthen the education system. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria 2020. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

Thesis (PhD. (Education)) --University of Limpopo, 2017. / South Africa has embarked on the official inclusion of school-based assessment in all subjects for transforming once-off pen and paper testing to redress the past rigid, norm-referenced, unreliable and non-transparent discriminative educational assessment in schools. The introduction does not only aim at offering constant constructive feedback to learners to improve performance, but it also assists teachers to diagnose, facilitate and improve on their assessment methods, to report learner performance to relevant stakeholders like parents, schools, districts and lastly national departments of education and to inform teaching and more assessments. Over and above it forms 25% of the total mark for all subjects in further education and training including Grade 12. There is compelling empirical evidence that school-based assessment positively influences the performance of learners in large scale assessments. In spite of its significance, the school-based assessment of literature set-works has received scant attention in secondary schools. Despite the local and international interest and implementation of school-based assessment nowadays, its administration in South Africa schools still remains a challenge. This study therefore followed an interpretive qualitative approach to respond to the question: What are the experiences of English first additional language teachers in assessment of literature set-works in secondary schools in Limpopo province? The teacher self-efficacy theory guided this study. It was not only used to substantially explain the stature of a literature teacher, but also to generate strategies to promote teacher flexibility and application of assessment practices in English first additional language. The theoretical and practical implications of self-efficacy theory are discussed in terms of their relevance to both the literature teacher and school-based assessment expectations. Multiple qualitative data collection methods of focus group interviews, openended questionnaires, documents and field notes were employed to strengthen findings in a natural setting. Respondents were selected through the purposive sampling. Five districts of Limpopo province were sampled for this study: four focus group interviews were conducted, 139 open-ended questionnaires were returned and documents relevant to answering the research question were analysed. Data were transcribed and then analysed by the Tesch (1990) method (as in Creswell 1994) of qualitative data analysis and constant comparison method. Teachers operating in the assessment of English first additional language have acknowledged the importance of school-based assessment, moderation and literature set-works, however they still feel literature assessment in schools does not receive the attention it deserves. The qualitative data revealed that teachers face various challenges in the implementation of school-based assessment of literature set-works. Most teachers through their responses still face challenges of time, resources and curriculum advisory support, inability to design their own literature set-works tasks, learner illiteracy and lack of teacher efficacy. Moreover, teachers are keenly dependent on previously written question papers. Findings have further shown that teachers suffer the pressures of authorities who impose extra assessment work on them and the selected literature prescribed works that stay for too long in the curriculum – these comprise the programme of assessment. These findings, although they may not be generalised, might contribute to prospect future research and educational change in assessment of literature set-works in schools. Various recommendations have been made for educational stakeholders in further research prospects and future improvement on assessment of literature set-works in schools emphasizing the independence of English literature setworks

Thesis (M. Ed. (Didatics)) / Assessment methods in Business Studies in the FET phase have had to change as a result of the implementation of OBE and the NSC in South Africa. In order to analyse how this has affected the education of learners, a case study, based on the IEB was analysed. Under the supervision of Umalusi, the IEB has developed new moderation systems in order to quality assure SBA (School Based Assessment), represented by learners’ portfolios which constitute 25% of the final promotion mark for the NSC. The guidelines and documentation for these moderation requirements are contained in the IEB Business Studies SAG (Subject Assessment Guidelines). This document forms the basis of the case study.The IEB, however, does not work in isolation and through their partnership with the DoE the experience gained through implementing new assessment methods in Business Studies as described in this study can be adapted for other subjects or schools in the public sector.

Thesis (M. Ed. (Didatics)) / Assessment methods in Business Studies in the FET phase have had to change as a result of the implementation of OBE and the NSC in South Africa. In order to analyse how this has affected the education of learners, a case study, based on the IEB was analysed. Under the supervision of Umalusi, the IEB has developed new moderation systems in order to quality assure SBA (School Based Assessment), represented by learners’ portfolios which constitute 25% of the final promotion mark for the NSC. The guidelines and documentation for these moderation requirements are contained in the IEB Business Studies SAG (Subject Assessment Guidelines). This document forms the basis of the case study.The IEB, however, does not work in isolation and through their partnership with the DoE the experience gained through implementing new assessment methods in Business Studies as described in this study can be adapted for other subjects or schools in the public sector.