Primary investigator: Dr Vanessa Scherman 

The monitoring of quality education is a critical topic of discussion in the South African education system which faced the challenge of implementing a plethora of progressive policies, leaving the system in crisis. The level of literacy and numeracy leaves much to be desired as evidenced not only by the Grade 12 matric results but also in the national Systemic Evaluations at Grade 3, 6 and 9. Poor performance in these areas is also highlighted in a number of international comparative studies such as Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Trends in International Mathematics Science Study (TIMSS). While the Department of Education has put initiatives in place such as the Foundations for Learning Programme and instituted national testing at Grade 3, 6 and 9 on a yearly basis, there are no monitoring systems external to the schools which could be used to track learner performance from Grade 1 to Grade 2, from Grade 2 to Grade 3 and the end of Grade 3, thus covering a whole phase in the General Education and Training band. There are no large items banks available for teachers, based on taxonomies that bring together curriculum, teaching and assessment, which teachers can use to generate assessments that are easily linked to intervention. This project aims at meeting the need for a monitoring and feedback system for mathematics and reading in the Foundation Phase, whilst laying the foundations for an item bank for this phase that allows teachers to develop their own assessments to track learner progress.

The overall aim of this research project is to provide further development to the South African Monitoring and Feedback System for Primary Schools (SAMP). Currently, the system consists of a baseline and follow-up assessment, as well as a feedback system at the Grade 1 level to assist teachers in monitoring learners’ progress. The research aims identified are: (i) to expand SAMP for Grades 2 and 3 applying the Anderson-Krathwohl revision of Bloom’s taxonomy as the underlying theoretical framework (Krathwohl, 2002); (ii) to provide schools with a set of validated assessments for the Foundation Phase (Grades 1-3) to monitor learners’ progress in mathematics and reading during the school year, (iii) to explore what competences schools and teachers need to apply SAMP themselves as part of monitoring learner progress, and (iv) to provide specifications for the development of an item bank for the Foundation Phase drawing on the revised Bloom’s taxonomy, to enable teachers to build their own assessments based on valid and reliable items.

The specific research questions are:

1. To what extent can the Anderson-Krathwohl revision of Bloom’s taxonomy be used as a theoretical framework for the development of assessments at Grade 2 and Grade 3?
2. How can valid and reliable data be generated to be used in monitoring the progress of their learners in mathematics and reading for Grade 2 and Grade 3?
3. What competences do schools (and teachers) need to apply SAMP themselves as part of monitoring learner progress?
4. What design specifications are needed to build an item bank that is valid and reliable for teachers to use in developing their own assessments to monitor learner progress?

45 primary schools in Gauteng participate. The project uses Design Research, a research approach suitable for addressing complex real-world educational problems. Design research combines research with the systematic design, development, trialling and evaluation of educational interventions (in this case a monitoring and feedback system for the Foundation Phase) to address complex educational problems. This results in both a research based intervention and knowledge about the characteristics and process of designing the intervention. These criteria will determine the data collection and analyses to be employed in the various phases. For the qualitative phases of the project, interview schedules and observations are used. Researchers also keep a research journal. For the quantitative phases of the project, assessments and questionnaires are used. As the design progresses from the Preliminary through the Prototyping into the final Assessment phase, the evaluative emphasis also shifts through the hierarchy of criteria. The iterative design cycles all include formative evaluations focussing on various combinations of the criteria. Each cycle represents a complete micro-cycle of research with a specific research question. There will also be a shift from informal evaluation (such as self-evaluation, one-to-one evaluation and expert review) to more formal methods to test the practicality and effectiveness of the components of the intervention through try-outs. The evaluations will culminate in a larger scale field test of the new framework and system by implementing it in a number of schools and formally evaluating the functioning. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be employed throughout the evaluations. The quantitative data analysis will include descriptive and inferential statistics depending on the research question addressed at each cycle. The qualitative data analysis includes thematic content analysis which will enable researchers to obtain rich, in-depth data and explore links between themes.