Western Cape Learners to Write the Annual National Assessments

On Tuesday, 10 September 2013, over 611 000 Grade 1-6 and Grade 9 learners will begin writing the 2013 Annual National Assessments (ANAs).

We wish all our learners the best of luck in the tests and hope they do the Western Cape proud.

1 455 public ordinary schools have registered to write the test, as well as 17 special schools and 77 independent schools.

The ANAs are a national-based assessment in Language and Mathematics in Grades 1-6 and 9.

The testing will take place over a period of four days. Learners in Grade 1, 2, 4 and 5 will begin writing language on Tuesday, followed by Grade 3, 6 and 9 on Wednesday. On Thursday the Mathematics component of the tests will begin. Grade 1, 2, 4 and 5 will write on Thursday and Grade 3, 6, 9 on Friday.

In order to support our teachers and learners in preparing for the tests, the WCED uploaded exemplar papers onto the WCED website and CEMIS system for educators to download.

Teachers were encouraged to make use of these papers so that learners become familiar with the different types of questions. They were also urged to prepare learners for the test environment so that they will be able to work independently with the test papers on the date of testing.

Teachers were asked to familiarise themselves with the different test items and the mark allocations as listed in marking memoranda given to schools.

The Department of Basic Education also developed Assessment Guidelines for each grade and subject (Language and Mathematics), which outline the scope of the curriculum that needs to be covered by schools prior to the writing of the ANA. The guidelines were published on the WCED’s GET Assessment website in June for schools to access.

The sealed test papers were delivered to schools over the last two weeks and have been securely stored. The tests will remain sealed until they are opened in front of the invigilators on the day of writing.

On delivery of the tests, the principal was required to verify the contents of the consignment to confirm that the school received the correct number of tests and in the appropriate language of learning and teaching. Schools will take responsibility for any shortages on the day of writing. However, the WCED is prepared for any eventualities or shortages should they occur.

Principals will act as chief invigilators and the monitoring of the ANAs will be conducted by district and head office officials from the WCED, as well as representatives from the Department of Basic Education.

The scripts will then be marked and moderated internally at school level by the subject teachers by 18 September 2013. A sample of the scripts will also be moderated by an independent agent and the district.

Because the ANAs fall on an ordinary school day, teaching and learning must resume immediately after each assessment is completed. Parents are reminded that during this period it is an ordinary school day.

We hope to see further steady improvements in the results of our learners.

We are, however, under no illusion that we still have challenges in language and mathematics at different levels. We will continue to support our schools and develop strategies to improve on these results further.

We also look forward to the 2013 WCED systemic tests in October.

Once we receive both the ANAs and the WCED systemic testing results we will analyse the data so that we can make considered interventions and target our support accordingly.