The question of possibly scrapping summative assessments for senior students remains open. First Vice Minister of Education Shynar Akparova at a government briefing explained what will change in the school assessment system, reports infohub.kz.
Journalists asked why the summative assessments (SOR and SOCh) are being abolished only for grades 2-4, while for grades 5-11 they remain, despite the high workload. They asked whether the possibility of reducing the number of such works for senior students was considered. However, no direct answer was given.
Shynar Akparova only touched upon changes for the primary level. "Criterion-based assessment is not being cancelled — we are currently only changing the approach to criterion-based assessment. Previously, in the primary level, after each section students took a SOR and at the end of the quarter a SOCh. Now, students will not take end-of-quarter works. That is, formative assessment remains — from 1 to 10 points. The only difference is that there will be interim assessment after each section. The sum of formative assessment results plus interim assessment results will be the quarter's final grade. So we are reducing the workload," she said.
According to her, the emphasis is on written work. As for senior students, for the new subjects — "Fundamentals of the Constitution", "Law and Order", and "Fundamentals of Safety" — grades will not be given, as they will be conducted within the variable component.
Recall that on May 26, Minister of Education Zholdas Suleimenova stated that Kazakhstani schools may gradually abandon SOR and SOCh. Recently it became known that they will be abolished only in grades 2-4. Students' academic achievements will be assessed through formative assessment, thematic and final control.