Cenbosec - Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 50,  No. 4, October-December 2011

Quality Initiatives in Education

Content

• From the Chairman
• Feedback Forum
• Articles
• Quality Initiatives in Education – Nirmala Venkateswaran
• Quality Initiatives in Education – Rajeev Kumar
• Quality Initiatives in Education – Jyoti Gupta
• Teacher's Quality : Small Steps for Giant Leap – Neha Sharma
• Quality Initiatives in Education – Rooma Pathak
• Which of these ‘Sins’ do you tend to commit in the class? – Dr. N.K. Vijayan Karippal
• Initiatives to Improve the Quality of Teaching and Learning
• C.Srinivasan, N.Swaminathan & R. Ganesh Iyer
• Vertical Synchronization of Quality Initiatives in Education – Dr. Avtar Singh
• DISHA Peer Facilitators CLUB in Kendriya Vidyalayas: A Quality learning initiate under Adolescence Education Programme (AEP) – Mr. Sudhanshu Shekhar Patra & Mrs. Saraswati Beura
• Integrating Technology into Quality Education – Veena Raizada
• Success Mantra for Excellence in Schools – M.Sitamahalakshmi
• What other Principals say
• News from Schools
• Green Page
• Health & Wellness Clubs
• Sahodaya Updates
• Sports Arena
• Academic Updates
• Best Practices
• Circulars

The quality of education for children depends not on specific techniques, practices or structures, but on  more basic human and social resources in a school, especially on the commitment and competence (the will and  skill) of educators and on students’ efforts to learn. The various types of paints, brushes, colours, etc., can partially  enhance or diminish the value of the art work, but their effectiveness depends on how they are used in specific contexts. In short, quality initiatives should be seen as structural tools to be used for specific purposes in particular situations. Similarly, the effectiveness of each education restructuring tool, either alone or in combination with others, depends on how well it organizes or develops the values, beliefs, and technical and life skills of educators to improve student teaching and learning.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has come up with numerous examination reforms and quality initiatives in education. The strengthening of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) by the Board is an initiative that not only needs planning, implementation, evaluation, assessment but also quality  innovation. As the prime focus is always on student learning, the point of concern is to understand how the tools  of restructuring can be utilized to elevate learning for all students. There is no “magic bullet” or simple recipe for success. But the solution lies in various parameters like authentic pedagogy, schools’ organizational capacity and external support. Schools are nested in a complex environment of expectations, regulations and professional stimulation from external sources including districts, state and educational agencies, government policies, parents and other citizens which are instrumental in enhancing the quality of education.

The quality in education depends to a great extent on teachers and students and CBSE has always taken up the task of building teacher capacity and developing a learning orientation within teaching as a profession. The Board is also conducting training programmes not only for teachers but also for Principals in `Strategic Management and Leadership' in collaboration with the Indian Institutes of Management, NUEPA and other Management Institutes of repute. The overwhelming response from the Principals of affiliated schools has made the Board explore other avenues for providing opportunities to Heads of Institutions since these courses are hugely oversubscribed.

For proper implementation of CCE in its schools, the Board has conducted a number of Mentoring and Monitoring (M & M) workshops to train the Mentors throughout the country. In the academic session 2010-2011 and in the current session the Board has covered almost entire country for M & M trainings.

During these trainings we have realized that one cannot disconnect innovation from technology, we need to  look to technology for solutions. There is tremendous enthusiasm for technology in education and it is definitely part of the future of learning. The opportunity to share information, collaborate around the world, to consume truly endless amounts of content and get access to information anywhere, anytime, anyplace, is a game changer that fundamentally is playing a huge role in the future of the way learning takes place. But the lessons we've learned in the past remain constant, and frankly even more important now than ever…and that is supporting great teaching, making sure kids are properly motivated to succeed and that we align a holistic approach to a student's learning environment, from a classroom environment to getting parental involvement to making sure that we have got the right approach to Formative Assessment in place. Technology can support and enable all of those things, but technology alone cannot overcome a demotivated teacher.

As you are aware, the Board has issued uniform CCE certificates to all the students who appeared in Class X in March 2011 Examination irrespective of the fact whether they were assessed by the Board or by the School in Summative Assessment-II (SA-II). To ensure the reliability, validity and fairness of assessment, the Board also collected marks/grades assigned at school level through specially designed software. Besides the collection of marks/grades, the Board also collected ‘Evidence of Assessments (EAs)’ conducted at school level under Formative and Summative Assessments.

These ‘Evidence of Assessments (EAs)’ and the marks awarded were verified by the subject experts appointed and empanelled by the Board at the Regional level. The objective was to assess the ‘Practices of School Based Assessment’. The experts submitted their report on these ‘Evidence of Assessments (EAs)’ vis-a-vis award of marks. Their report helped in verifying the school based assessments as well as provided a very good feedback to the Board about implementation of CCE scheme at grassroot level results of this verification exercises were very encouraging

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has introduced assessment of schools through standardized instruments and process of internal (self evaluation) and external assessment (peer review) which will encourage sustained qualitative enhancement. This assessment will be used to accredit schools to provide quality benchmarks in the concept, establishment and running of effective systems within an institution in accordance with changing socio-economic and cultural contexts and new research.

With this objective CBSE has initiated the School Quality Assessment and Accreditation (SQAA) process which aims at Institutional Capacity Building for continuous quality improvement through self-analysis and self-monitoring of quality enhancement processes.

It is hoped that this process of accreditation would monitor identified outcomes at all levels and across all spheres of school education. It would help teachers, educational administrators and all other stakeholders involved in school education to learn from this exercise and improve themselves. It has also been made mandatory that the schools get accredited once in every three years.

I am sure that with your co-operation the quality initiatives by the Board will help in ensuring proper and effective implementation of reforms thereby strengthening the education system.

Courtesy : Central Board of Secondary Education