The Ministry of Education has just released the new and improvised School Achievement Board making everything seems so complicated with so much statistics as well as diagrams for the poor layman. Here are some new additions;
1) Schools that are going to implement th Integrated Programme (IP) or rather known as the top schools will not be included in the annual exercise.
2) Academically, school will be placed in bands according to the round off score of the L1B5. For example, School A and B's mean L1B5 is 15. Therefore both will be Banded 5.
3) The achievement chart will include the awards each school has won/achieved which can range from aesthetic development to character building.
4) Junior Colleges will not be banded or ranked.
5) New Special awards like the School Excellence Award and the School Distinction Award will be awarded together with Level 2 awards like Sustained Achievement Awards, Outstanding Development Awards and Best Practice Awards. Level One awards like Achievement awards and Development awards will also be awarded. (IP Schools can get such awards)
A new and refreshing change.
With the implementation of this new achievement table, schools will not be ranked by the numbers but by the bands. However, given the huge number of bandings (9) in the schools with L1B5 less than 18, the number of schools slotted into each band will come out to be about 5. To Parent X, this might as well mean that these schools are tied academically which is similiar to the old system and start believing that they are ranked and not banded. Furthermore the number of awards a particular school gained does not affect the banding where the banding is based absolutely on academic performance. Thus, the emphasis of academic ranking is still inevitable.
The number of new awards dishing out is enormous. With an increment in awards a depreciation of the value of award sets in. According to statistics, more and more schools are awarded with Level One awards as well as the other awards. Will there be a day that achieving Level One awards are the norm then, will such awards be redundant at all? Furthermore, how each school is evaluated to achieve the particular awards are not disclosed which makes one wonder what has the school done to be so outstanding to win such awards. Furthermore, wih so many awards things are really getting very complicated for parents who have to make informed decision about schools for Primary school leavers. Thus, defeating the purpose whole exercise.
JCs not ranked.
The idea of JC not been ranked is good. In the way that it allows the different JC to distinguish themselves not academically but by their individual strengths and character. Thus building a more vibrant JC community which puts academics aside and develop character. However, the stereotype of top 5 JCs are already rooted into all minds, thus to eradicate such a mindset will take several years if not a generation.
Still, it is a good move that should be fine tuned along the way.
Talking about schools, my holidays are over and I have school tomorrow...........urgh!~
