Intro

Classroom based assessment is the process of collecting, synthesizing and interpreting

information to aid in classroom decision making. Both school and society play important roles
in the classroom-based assessment. The administrators and teachers in school and the
parents from the society which is directly connected to the learners plays an important role in
making CBA succeed. Today, Miss Yew, a teacher in SK Gelora, me Mr. Tan, the Senior
assistant administration in SK Gelora and Mdm. Hidayah, the Head of parents- teacher
Association are going to discuss about our roles in CBA.

Mr. Tan, as a senior assistant administration in SK Gelora, can you please explain what is the
role of school administrators when implementing CBA?

In implementing CBA, school administrators need to understand the concept, implementation

and importance of Classroom Assessment by attending courses handled by Curriculum
Development Division (CDD), State Education Department and District Education Office.
School administrators should actively participate in the courses and get materials from the
master trainers, then inform the school teachers about the implementation of CBA. Other
alternative is to encourage teachers or send representatives to attend courses, then conduct
a sharing to give input to the school community on the implementation of CBA.

So, the school administrator are following the SOP in implementing CBA in the school?

Definitely, as a school administrator, I need to master the concept and implementation of CBA.
Then, I try to lead and guide teachers in implementing CBA based on the guidelines given in
DSKP and CBA Implementing Guidebook. I will conduct a chair coordination meeting on CBA
to form a Classroom Assessment committee and assign a secretary for the school’s CBA.
During the meeting, I will issue instructions at the school level to implement Classroom
Assessment. I will outline an operating gantt chart of CBA so that the teachers can refer to the
timeline and carry out the CBA. Then, I should discuss with the headmaster and secretary to
conduct a meeting regarding CBA in the school regularly. The purpose of the CBA meeting is
coordinate SBA that was implemented in the school. The headmaster and I will monitor the
implementation of CBA among teachers. As a senior assistant administration, I collaborate
with the subject panel teachers to ensure that every teacher is conducting classroom
assessment in each subject. However, the school also require parents to collaborate with us.
Being a parent, I do think that we play a vital role in our children’s education. This is because
when parents involve themselves in the education process of their children, usually the
outcome can be qualified as a positive and encouraging one. According to Ceka &
Murati(2016), educational level of children in the family depends on the level of the parent’s
education, so as a parents, we need to be educated too. In order to have good results at
school, the parental control over the child needs to be permanent. On the other hand, in order
to have success within the educational activity the school are performing with the child, we as
a parent need to work with the teacher that is familiar with the pedagogical theories and
strategies which are connected to the children’s cognitive, emotional and physical
development. Furthermore, a special focus must be put on the child’s psychological
development as well. And again, rewarding and praising the child, is a real stimulator towards
a better mutual respect and closeness between our children and us.

Yes, it’s true. As a teacher I also think teachers’ role in Classroom-Based Assessment (CBA)
is very important as we act as the planner, implementer and the decision maker that facilitates
the pupils’ learning towards the goal that we want them to achieve.

As a planner itself, teachers will have to plan for every assessment before it was
implemented. It is important because the objectivity, validity and the reliability of the
assessment must be considered as in what to assess and how it could be done. To plan a
classroom assessment, teacher must decide on the skills and content to be tested such as
the range of units in the textbooks and the skills in English which are listening, speaking,
reading, writing and grammar. Furthermore, the type of assessment also varies as in it is not
only written examinations but also assessment in other forms such as quizzes, question and
answer session, dramatization, role playing, observation, journal writing et cetra which
includes group and individual activities.

I agree that the planning of the assessment is important. However, we parents also play an
important role in helping our child to learn by encouraging their learning at home. When
parents are engaged in their children’s school lives, the students will have the home support
and knowledge they need to not only finish their homework, but also develop a lifelong love of
learning. Basically, children’s education starts from home. Parents are their first teacher and
they are the key role in shaping up their children’s character. A balance of education at home
and school molds a student’s actual learning.
As although we played our role in encouraging them, but we also want to make our children
feel that it is okay to fail because failure is a great teacher. However, if my children keep failing
over and over, and don’t have the encouragement to keep trying, they might lose confidence
and motivation in learning due to the grades, marks or comment that was given to them.
Eventually they will start to believe that they are a failure themselves. I would like to ask how
do teachers ensure that the assessment done to evaluate students’ ability is fair and not
demotivate them?

One common issue that parents and other bodies may brought up is the validity and reliability
of CBA. So, the teachers need to perform quality assurance of CBA. This is to ensure the
smoothness and accuracy of Classroom Assessment’s implementation at the school level.
Supervision need to be carried out by the Principal / Headmaster, Senior Assistant
Administration, Senior Subject Teacher (GKMP) / Head of Department, Head of Panel,
teachers appointed by the Principal/Headmaster/School Assessment Committee. To increase
the validity and reliability of CBA, headmaster will administrators are required to carry out
supervision of teachers in their respective schools in accordance with Surat Pekeliling
Ikhtisas Bil. 3/1987: Penyeliaan Pengajaran-Pembelajaran di dalam Kelas oleh
Pengetua/Guru Besar. The instructional leader also needs to ensure that a learning standard
is achieved in the classroom and that a conducive school environment is created to further
enrich T&L. Supervision should be carried out systematically and professionally aiming for
constructive feedback and self-reflection that enable teachers to improve their teaching
practices. Quality assurance of Classroom Assessment involves mentoring, tracking,
monitoring and coordination.

Well, it is true that there might be unfairness occurring during the assessment which might be
influenced by many reasons such as students’ perception of teacher, students’ attitude in
class, or even students’ motivation of study. As a teacher, we always try our best to be as fair
as possible consciously as that is one of our job ethics. Assessing is often described as a
challenging task and the hardest job of a teacher. Formal training is needed to train us for this
task as Classroom-Based Assessment takes not only the pupils’ academic growth but also
their personal growth as we are building them holistically. The fairness of the assessment is
focused as in we look into their effort, interest, motivation, and participation in the assessment
and always inform them about their performance and the aspects to be assessed so that they
are ready for the assessment.
In this case the second role that we play is as an implementer in Classroom-Based
Assessment which we understand the concept where there are no predetermined answers,
implement it in line with the curriculum and know the importance of it to help students achieve
their goals. We implement the assessment according to the assessment procedures which is
identify the learning outcome, measure it, analyze it and reconstruct the assessment method
to best suit the students. The assessment is fair in Classroom-Based Assessment because
the assessment varies as in it caters to every student where they have different level of ability
and multi-intelligence which are also considered when the assessment is implemented. We
implement the assessment according to the principle of equity and needs of students where
same opportunity is given to the child to perform their best and achieve the objective and goals
that was set.

As a responsible parent, first of all, we need to always be up to date with the latest changes
in the education. For example, nowadays, there is no examinations, means pupils will not be
sitting for any examinations. So, I will also not give them so much pressure just to get good
grades in the school exam, but I can always help the teachers in encouraging them to build
up their characters as a good person. We have meetings with the teacher at least twice a year
without give any accuse and we find the best way to come for the meeting for the sake of our
children’s education. The child’s learning development will be reported in the form of mastery
level. It covers the strengths and weaknesses of the child. Teachers will make additional
comments on the potential development, skills and personality of students. So, as a parents,
we need to always accept whatever evaluation given by the teacher with an open heart as the
assessment will be implemented in a transparent and ethical manner. We also discuss with
the teachers to find the best way that suit our children’s learning styles. So that I can implement
the learning style at home. May I know how teachers ensure that the assessment suits each
child?

Teachers are also decision makers in Classroom-Based Assessment where we will monitor
the suitability of the assessment through the students’ performance and attainment of the
knowledge taught that were recorded in either the observation checklist, worksheets, verbal
answers and et cetra. By monitoring them, we improve the assessment from time to time
where we decide and plan on the steps to use a better and suitable approach or allowing them
to re-asses to help in pushing the students’ learning further and move them towards their goal
where maybe feedback is given to them individually or in groups in written or verbal form.

(Lavin) support. The school administrators also concern about pupils’ performance in the
school. In order to get a holistic assessment report about pupils’ performance, I will instruct
the teachers to prepare Classroom Assessment’s implementation reports. After every teacher
submit the report, I will advise teachers to carry out intervention as follow-up actions for the
pupils. I will establish Professional Learning Community (PLC) activities among the teachers
and encourage teacher to discuss on the strategy to improve pupils’ learning. Later, I will
analyse the reports prepared by teacher on the effectiveness of the intervention carried out to
obtain pupils’ progress and prepare final report for inspection purpose. Then, the school will
held a Parents and Teachers Conference so that the parents and teachers can discuss on the
pupils learning progress and collaborate together.