Frequently Asked Questions on Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) 

A.CCE Scheme 

1. How would CCE help in reducing stress of students?

CCE helps in reducing stress of students by - * Identifying learning progress of students at regular time intervals on small * portions of content. * Employing a variety of remedial measures of teaching based on learning needs * and potential of different students. * Desisting from using negative comments on the learner's performance. * Encouraging learning through employment of a variety of teaching aids and * techniques. * Involving learners actively in the learning process. * Recognizing and encouraging specific abilities of students, who do not excel in · * academics but perform well in other co-curricular areas.       

2. There are usually forty students in a section. Will it be possible for a single teacherto assess all the students meaningfully and objectively in a given time frameparticularly in co - scholastic areas?

The Board has developed detailed guidelines for assessment in co-scholastic areas.Tools and techniques for assessment in these areas have been included in theseguidelines. Besides, the Board is organizing series of training programmes in differentparts of the country to familiarize teachers in related matters. However schools andteachers themselves also will have to design strategies to meet the emerging challenges.It has been suggested that assessment in co- scholastic areas may be done by a team ofteachers in order to minimize subjectivity. 

3. The concept of Board being made optional still not clear?

It is suggested to go through the recent circular no. 39 and 40 issued by the Boardin this regard. These circulars explain the proposed examination reforms veryclearly and include the details of the new scheme and the meaning of makingBoard's examination optional. The circulars are also available on CBSE website www.cbse.nic.in . 

4. When there are so many co-curricular activities to be done during the year,will the existing syllabus in different subjects be reduced?

Not presently or immediately. The matter may be considered after theimplementation of the scheme and getting feedback from the system. 

B. Academics 

1. How would CCE help in improvement of student's performance?

CCE helps in improving student's performance by identifying his/her learningdifficulties at regular time intervals right from the beginning of the academic sessionand employing suitable remedial measures for enhancing their learning performance. 

2. Different schools follow different academic sessions. Will CCE allow enoughflexibility to schools to plan their own academic sessions?

The scheme of continuous and comprehensive evaluation has inbuilt flexibility forschools to plan their own academic schedules as per specified guidelines on CCE.However, the schools may have to make slight modifications in existing schools.

 3 . With Class X Board examinations made optional, should I still buy morereference books for my child in Mathematics and Science and practice books inEnglish? Should I hire tutors for him?

Making Class X Board Examination optional in no way means dilution of emphasison Academics. In classes IX and X, the Board has prescribed NCERT/ CBSEtextbooks in various subjects. Besides these textbooks, the teachers also assignvarious kinds of assignments to students which require consulting additionalmaterials given in reference books, articles, and internet websites etc. It is suggestedto encourage your child to inculcate the habit of self learning with understanding.Selection of additional learning material has to be done very carefully. 

4. Will CCE help my child to choose subjects of his choice in class XI?

The CBSE plans to offer an aptitude test for classes IX and X from 2010. The firsttest will be available by February 2010. By the time a student reaches Class XI, he/she would have undertaken the aptitude test twice once at the end of class IX andthen at the end of class X. This together with academic performance and CCE wouldhelp students/ parents and teachers to judge their level of understanding in eachsubject and help them choose subjects for class XI. The schools have been advised tofollow multi pronged approach for assigning subjects. Aptitude test, scholasticperformance, co-scholastic achievements, all need to be given weight age. Studentsof the same school will be given preference over the students coming from any otherschool for admission in class XI.

 5 . Different schools have varying academic standards. How will the Board be ableto maintain parity of standards among its affiliated schools in urban andrural areas, or schools located in metro cities and those located in remote orbackward parts of the country when school based assessment in Class x isintroduced?

In order to maintain parity of standards among its affiliated schools, the Board hasinitiated following steps:a. Developing Question Banks in different subjects. These will be madeavailable to all schools. Every school will be required to generate its ownQuestion Paper selecting questions from the given question bank. This willbe ensuring parity of standards.b. Conducting intensive mass training programmes for Principals and teachersof its affiliated schools all across the country.c. Developing and making available CCE guidelines and subject specificguidelines for schools.   

6. Will CCE help my child to get through competitive tests after Class XII?

Scheme of CCE is expected to help the child make informed choice of subjects inclass XI based on his aptitude, interests, liking, and academic performance. WithCCE aiming at all round development of the child's personality it is expected that astudent will be able to take up competitive examinations in right earnest. It may beclearly understood that introduction of CCE does not mean less emphasis onacademic attainment. Students will still be required to do well in studies. Howeverdue to acquisition of additional life skills, like thinking and emotional skills, they areexpected to meet different life situations with greater maturity. 

 C. Examination 

1. Usually while appearing for the Board examinations, the students get a feel thatthey are doing something big. They get serious in preparing for the Boards, insolving sample question papers, or reading more books for reference. Will thatseriousness remain if Class X Board examinations are made optional and CCEis introduced?

The Board has brought out subject specific detailed guidelines on formative andsummative evaluation which will engage a student through out the academic sessiondoing variety of meaningful, creative and relevant learning activities. The schoolswill be required to use question banks prepared by the Board for SummativeAssessment. It will certainly include questions on testing of higher mental abilities oflearners. This would necessitate using reference materials and making thoroughpreparations and getting immediate feedback on his performance through selfassessmentor by peers and teachers.   

2. If formative assessment helps teachers to identify learning difficulties of studentsthen why should it form part of the student's evaluation when learning is still informative stage?

The National Policy on Education (1986) emphasizes that at school level, evaluationshould be formative or developmental in nature. At this stage, the child is in formativestage of learning. She/ he wants to discuss and clarify many doubts for betterconceptual clarity. Unless we assess learner's efforts, performance, attitudes tolearning and abilities to apply what is learned in every day situations, we may not beable to help him/ her in improving his/her learning. Hence through formativeassessment, causes of poor performance are diagnosed using diagnostic tests andpromptly remediated by giving interventions followed by retesting.

3. Will my child get CCE certificate even if he does not clear the examinations?

All those regular students of the Board's affiliated schools who have undergone a course of study in the 9 th and 10 th classes shall be issued this certificate with effect from March 2011 examination. 

4. How much marks should a child score for being promoted to next higher class?Is there any provision for compartmental examination?

A student will be declared having passed in Class IX/ X, if he/ she get a grade higherthan E1 in all the subjects of scholastic area. Existing provisions for improvementand compartment will continue to be followed. 

5. When will a student be filling up self-awareness section in the CCE report card? This is the only section in CCE certificate that has to be filled in by a student towardsthe end of academic session of Class X. However, it is very important that a studentrealizes his goals and strengths right from the beginning. The teachers will be helpingthe students to understand the meaning and importance of this section. Ampleopportunities are provided to him for realization of goals and understanding of self.

6. What does percentile rank depict in the CCE card?

Students' achievement on scholastic aspects can be measured in terms of threelevels:

• With reference to current status of his progress by identifying learning gaps and improving performance through remediation.
• With reference to the expected levels of learning.
• With reference to his current status vis-à-vis peer groups (percentile rank).A percentile rank identifies the percentage of students/ peer group that a student scorehas surpassed. For example a student has a test score of 66 and a percentile rank of70 in his class. That means that a score of 66 is higher than 70% of the students inone's class. 

7. Students scoring 71, 75 or 79 marks will be awarded the same grade. Is itjustified? In what ways are grades better than marks?

Awarding of grades has number of advantages over awarding of numerical marks. Itconsiderably reduces inter and intra examiner variability in marking. It also takes careof imperfection of tools used for assessment. Statistical research in assessmenttechniques indicates that there is a possibility of variation of scores awarded toindividuals to the extent of 5% to 15%. Putting students of similar potential in sameability bands (grades) automatically takes care of all these abbreviations in assessmenttechniques. Lastly, it will reduce undesired and unsound comparison of smalldifference of marks. 

8. For senior secondary schools, will the CBSE provide question papers forinternal assessment in classes X and XI?

The scheme of internal assessment in Mathematics, Science and Social science isbeing reshaped into formative assessment form. The detailed guidelines are beingmade available to schools shortly. There is no such provision for internalassessment in class XI. 

9. Are we going to handover the answer scripts of summative exam to the child? Schools are advised to show the answer sheet to the students for their benefit andsatisfaction. However, they may take it back for maintaining a record for sometime. 

10. I guess there are going to be no marks in decimals i.e. 90.2, 90.6. etc. Where dowe put such students? A core group must be formed to handle the CCEpractical problems and someone must be easily accessible? 

It is advisable not to award marks in decimals so that such technical problems inawarding grades do not arise. In case such a situation arises, usual accepted norms ofrounding of the decimals may be applied i.e. counting upto 0.49 as 0 and from 0.5 to0.99 as 1 will be allowed. Your suggestion in forming a core group to handle tricky and technical matters isquite good. A small core group has already been formed which is working on allmatters related to CCE. The Board is also providing helpline to sort out queries andclarifications related to different aspects of effective implementation of the newscheme. 

11. Alongwith Formative and Summative evaluation, due importance is to beaccorded to diagnostic evaluation too?

Formative assessment itself leads to identifying and diagnosing the areas oflearning difficulties of students and providing remedial interventions. 

12. Percentile rank reflected in the CCE report card. Is it at the school level?

Yes, it is at the school level. Provision is also being made to provide percentile rankin the Board examination, on demand. 

13. Some aspects of descriptive indicators for co-scholastic areas?

The descriptive indicators for assessment in co-scholastic areas have been includedin Teacher's Manual which is being made available to all the schools. 

14. Can the school make proficiency test compulsory for all the students? Do theyneed to pay extra for that?

It is advised that the parents should be made aware of having full faith in thequality and standard in school based assessment. There is no need of schoolmaking the proficiency test compulsory for the students.    

15. The beauty of formative assessment is that it creates a scope for the learner toimprove- that is basically the point of change?

It is a good observation. Formative Assessment is also meant for identifying areasof learning difficulty of students, providing remedial interventions resulting in theimprovement in learning. 

16. How to bridge the gap between school and Board pattern of marking of answersheets?

The marking of answer sheets in Board examination is done in a systematic mannerusing a well design marking scheme which indicates the allocation of marks fordifferent value points in an answer. In case of all summative assessments at schoollevel, the marking scheme will be provided by the Board. 

17. Attitude towards teachers- the descriptive indicator of assessment for attitudesstating the desired behaviour of the student as 'most of the time' ? will thatencourage psychofancy or genuine obedience?

Interpersonal relationships and behaviour of a person is an important soft skillwhich needs to be developed in the students during formative years. A verypurpose of keeping the assessment of attitudes and values in the scheme of CCE isto help the students have an integrated and balanced personality. It is desired on thepart of school to inculcate a genuine self discipline in the students by creatingcongenial conditions and conducive environment for the same. 

18. Uniform absolute grading for all the subjects does not take care of inter -disciplinary differences, for example Mathematics and Languages etc.

It is easier to understand by all stakeholders. 

19. What if a child falls sick during summative examination? Will he or she betested again?

Yes, it is mandatory for the students to appear in the summative examination.However, the timings and procedure for re-assessment may be decided at schoollevel. 

20. Does summative assessment II include the syllabus for the whole year?

No, the syllabus for summative assessment II include only those topics which havebeen taught during the term II i.e. the topics taught after summative assessment. 

21. Teachers are generally observed to favour students who perform better inacademics. Wil it not result in such students getting better grade in co-scholasticareas also without having similar proficiency in the same?

Teachers will be required to mention descriptive indicators and give justification forhaving given a specific grade to any student. The tools and techniques for assessmentin co-scholastic areas require team assessment instead of individual teacher assessinga student. This will minimize the subjectivity. The Board is also organizing trainingprogramme for teachers to discuss all related matters. 

22. Will the marking of answer sheets at school level be as objective and impartial asin Board's examination?

Your own school teachers have been marking the answer sheets of differentexaminations throughout your stay in the school. Why to doubt in their ability orintegrity in marking of answer sheets in classes IX and X? In case of any doubt, youmay ask the school authorities to show the answer sheets and its marking. In fact, it isan additional advantage in school based assessment. 

23. When class X examinations going to be school based under CBSE pattern, willmy performance or certificate be consider at per with certificate or marks issuedby any other Board in the country?

Every school is required to generate a question paper using questions made availableby CBSE through a question bank in every subject. The quality and standard ofacademic level of these assessment tools gets automatically taken care of. Moreover,the certificate issued by the school will be properly authenticated by the Board. Thus ,there no reason why the marks or certificate issued by the school will not beconsidered comparable to similar document issued by any other Board. 

D. Implementation 

1. During Board examinations, the teachers become serious teaching with moreresponsibility and accountability? Will that seriousness remain if Class X Boardexaminations are made optional and CCE is introduced?

With the fear of external examinations, the teachers and students are under constantthreat to cover syllabus. As a result many important aspects of learning such asconducting practical and organizing field trips and ways of learning such as referencework, project work and presentations are not fully utilized to the detriment of overalllearning. Now with that pressure removed, the teachers will be able to design a wide range ofcreative activities for enrichment and extension of learning. They will prepareassignments that would not only help the child in better understanding of concepts butalso promote higher levels of learning through logical and critical thinking and problemsolving. The Board has also issued subject specific guidelines which will help teachersto design their own academic calendar encompassing all such activities. 

2. Do you think our teachers are professionally qualified and specially trained totake up life skills education?

Life Skills Education was introduced by the Board in classes VI to VIII with effectfrom 2003 in Class VI. It was then extended to next higher classes VII and VIII in thesubsequent years. Thus it is not a totally new concept. The Board has now planned seriesof training programmes for teachers and principals all over the country to help themunderstand and implement the concept. 

3. How to address the student teacher ratio?

Yes, it is one of the challenges to be faced by all of us in relation to providing activelearning experiences as well as assessing the students. However, suitable strategies canbe designed by discussing the issue in advance at local level and finding out ways andmeans as to how best the desired objectives can be achieved within the givenparameters and constraints. Promotion of group activities can be one of the methods oftaking care of large numbers.   

4. How to assess the validity and reliability of CCE report card of a newadmission case?

The scheme of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation envisages greaterautonomy as well as greater responsibility to the schools. It also demands greaterobjectivity in awarding marks and grades to the students. The Board will be making aquestion bank available to the schools for generating question paper in every subject.Marking scheme will also be provided by the Board. This will take care of quality andstandard. Detailed guidelines are also being made available to schools for assessment inco-scholastic areas. There is no reason why the validity and reliability of CCE reportcard should be doubted under such conditions. 

5. What is the criteria for online examination?

The details for online examination are being worked out and will be made available toschools shortly. It will depend on students choice and availability of infrastructure. 

6. If my teacher takes a dislike to me, shall I be able to get good score or grade?

Teachers are well wishers of students. You should have full confidence in your potentialand behaviour as well as in the attitude of teachers towards you. Connecting well to yourclass water as well as your teachers may be given due place in establishing socialrelationship. There is no reason why any teacher should dislike you. These mattersrelated to objective school based assessment are also being discussed separately duringtraining programme of teacher and Principals.  

E. General 

1. Will I be continually informed of my child's performance and progress in studies?

Parents are active partners with schools in realizing the true potential of theirchildren. Though formal reporting of students' performance is done twice during anacademic session, CCE provides for regular interaction with parents through parentsteachers meetings (PTMs) etc. 

2. In my child's school, teachers select only those students for dance, music andarts competitions who have been participating in such competitions earlier and wonprizes giving no chance to new students. My child never gets an opportunity toperform in all such activities. How will my child be ever rated in all those activities?

As specified in Chapter 3 of the CCE guidelines on 'Assessing Co-Scholastic Areas',the scheme of CCE not only provides necessary feedback on the acquired levels oflearning in scholastic areas, but also lays equal emphasis on proficiency of learners inthe acquisition of essential life skills, attitudes and values, interests and achievementin various co-curricular activities. The schools have been directed to provide everystudent with ample opportunities to participate in various co-curricular programmesof their interests organized at various levels i.e. at the levels of section, class, house,school, and inter school, etc. 

3. In my child's school, the class teacher does not like my child. Will that affect mychild's assessment?

Evaluating on scholastic and co-scholastic aspects is not done by a single teacher butby a team of teachers teaching students based on test scores, participation in differentactivities, observation findings etc. Hence chances of biased assessment areminimized.

4. Will that increase burden on my child to continuously show his performance intests and activities. Would not that stifle his creativity and urge to be what hewants to be?

Through a well designed scheme of continuous and comprehensive evaluation, astudent will get ample opportunities to improve his/her performance in scholastic andnon-scholastic areas and to express his/ her creativity in areas of own interest. Bypursuing subjects of his/her choice and applying learning to daily life situations andpursuing hobbies of one's choice, his/her urge to identify and realize ones latenttalents will be fulfilled and help him to be his true self. 

5. What does the Board expect from the parents so that it benefits their children tomaximum extent?

The parents are expected to go through the philosophy of the scheme of CCE andsupport the teachers in all programmes and activities of the school for balancedpersonality development of their ward. Parents also need to encourage and motivatetheir students to take active part in different activities. 

6. Will there be any counseling sessions for parents also?

The CBSE has been holding interactive sessions with different stakeholders. Theschools have been advised to hold counseling sessions for parents on differentaspects of the scheme of CCE. Board has also provided a helpline for clarification onall related matters. 

7. Where can the parents report against the school not following CCE in truespirits?

The parents can write to the CBSE's concerned Regional Officer. They can also makeuse of the online facility available on the Board's website to interact with the Chairmanon this matter. 

8. CCE card includes variety of co-scholastic areas and activities. It will requiresignificant percentage of school time schedule to organize activities. Will it not resultin reduction of time for teaching different subjects?

Schools have already been organizing different activities to promote variety of skills instudents within the given school time schedule. With the implementation of the schemeof CCE, they will simply have to redesign the existing models to meet the requirementswith greater focus and attention to desired and specific areas. 

9. CCE card in class IX not given?

CCE card is a combined card meant for classes IX and X reflecting the performanceand achievement of the learner in scholastic and co-scholastic areas. A copy of theReport Card of present class IX class has already been given or being made available.Format of the card is also available on CBSE website. 

10. Schools where all the streams are not offered in class XI, like if a school doesn'thave humanity stream, how a student wanting to offer these subjects can behelped?

Either the school can offer these additional subjects in class XI, or with the CCECard the, students can take admission in any other CBSE affiliated school.   

11. When a student goes from class IX to X from one region to another region,which regional officer/principal will sign the cards?

Obviously class IX report card will be signed by the first school Principal. Class IXreport card is not to be signed by the regional officer. However, class X CCE cardwill be signed by the regional officer of the region in which the second school islocated. 

12. The child wants to stay in the same school but still wants to take his onlineexamination? His parents have a transferable job. Which exam will he betaking?

It is advised for him to take school based examination which will be dulyauthenticated by the Board. Directives will be issued to affiliated schools to acceptall such school based assessment certificates for all purposes including admission inanother school. 

13. Can the students access CBSE website for question bank?

Initially, a question bank in every subject is being designed and made available toschools only for generating the question paper for summative assessment in March2010 class IX exam. 

14. In a Formative assessment in the form of paper-pencil test, the students are tobe given their answer sheets after marking. Should these answer sheetsindicate marks or grades?

Since the teachers will be using different tools and techniques for Formativeassessment, it is advisable to award marks on the answer sheets initially. The marksgiven in the assessment through different techniques can be added and convertedinto grades. It may not be so easy to award grades for different assessments andcalculate the average grade. 

15. Will the Board be providing stationery for class IX report cards?

Not for class IX. The Board has designed the sample report card which is beingmade available to all the schools for use at their end. It is also available on CBSEwebsite.