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The first batch of students taking the new senior secondary curriculum will sit for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination in 2012.
A standards-referenced approach will be adopted for this new form of assessment and candidates' performance will be assessed in terms of five levels (1 to 5). Level 5 will be the highest level and performance below Level 1 will be denoted by "unclassified".
In standards-referenced assessment (SRA), a set of standards describing what students know or are able to do are developed for each performance level according to the requirements of the subject for reporting student achievement.
The system not only provides descriptions of student performance at each level, but also allows comparisons among students. For Level 5, candidates with better performance will be awarded Level 5* or Level 5** to facilitate selection of students by universities.
Norm-referenced approach
The current system of reporting student achievement is known as "norm-referenced" system. Students are awarded a grade of A-F in each subject and performance below Grade F is denoted as "unclassified".
In conducting norm-referenced assessment, the Hong Kong Examinations & Assessment Authority chooses a group of schools that have had stable performance in the examinations over recent years as a "control group".
Analyses are carried out to identify the student scores of the "control group" according to pre-defined percentages of different grades. These "cut scores" are then used to allocate grades to all students taking the examination.
Under the system, the standards in each subject are determined by the performance observed in the control group of schools. In this way, the system guarantees the standards of candidate performance are comparable over the years, but the standards are not explicitly described in any way.
Put another way, the current system of reporting mainly compares student performance, but does not indicate what students know or can actually do.
Also, the "cut scores" determined by the performance of the control group of schools may be influenced by changes in the secondary school admission system and increased student diversity.
Standards-referenced approach
In the SRA system, standards of each performance level are determined by a team of experts for each subject.
Taking into consideration the course objectives, the expert teams will conduct tests and researches to collect relevant data, such as statistics of past examinations and test papers completed by candidates. Then the data will be used to develop a set of descriptors for each level, as well as a set of exemplars of student performance, to illustrate the standards associated with each level.
SRA reflects the level of performance achieved by a candidate, without comparing it with the performance of other candidates. Hence, one's results will not be affected by the performance of other candidates.
Since the candidates will be fully aware of various descriptors and exemplars before the examination, they may set their learning targets accordingly.
The SRA results will enable stakeholders, including parents and students, to better understand students' knowledge and skills. They also provide more information to tertiary institutions and employers for selection and recruitment purposes.
In short, SRA will cope with the new senior secondary curriculum objectives by translating clearly defined learning targets and expected outcomes into assessment standards for each subject.
It will enable teachers and students to have a better idea of what to teach, what to learn and how to improve learning. It will also let students know their own standards, so that they may press forward to achieve a higher level of performance, building on their current strengths.
SRA has been in use for years and is not something new. There is also extensive experience in the use of SRA internationally.
For example, the Higher School Certificate Examination of New South Wales, Australia and the International English Language Testing Service, both well-known to the people of Hong Kong, are standards-referenced based. The Territory-wide System Assessment introduced in Hong Kong is also standards-referenced based.
Gradual refinement
To help the public gradually adapt to the new assessment system and facilitate its smooth implementation, the 2007 Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examinations (HKCEE) for English Language and Chinese Language will adopt the standards-referenced approach. Student performance will be reported with reference to five levels.
The addition of only one level, i.e. "5*", to Level 5 will suffice for the purpose of selecting students for Secondary 6 studies. The grade descriptors and exemplars of the two subjects have been distributed to schools for reference.
Parents and students who wish to know the details may purchase them through the ESDlife Bookstore.
The 2007 HKCEE for English Language and Chinese Language will serve as a touchstone for the full implementation of SRA. It will mark a new beginning for the assessment system of public examinations in Hong Kong.
Permanent Secretary for Education & Manpower Fanny Law published this essay on the Education & Manpower Bureau website in her series, "Realising the vision of 334".
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