Any Updates As To When PSLE T-Scores Will Be Scrapped?

[MyPillow]

if affiliation policy does chg, hope the chges are within reasonable means

[dimsum]

Funz:

I think DSA should strictly be base on non academic criteria.


Academic criteria is already being taken care of via the PSLE exams so why should schools still admit base on academic criteria for DSA?

Academic excellence in PSLE means a student must excel in all 4 subjects. DSA (academic) takes care of students who may be very talented in a particular subject (PSLE T score may not high enough to enter the school).

[Ikid]

phtthp:

people used to say primary school Cca not important, only Secondary school Cca important


But with dsa into good sec schools and now this holistic assessment banding coming soon, who say primary school Cca not important?

Gone are the days when u can Join any Cca because u are interested, sigh

If your external coach works with the top 4 schools, you may have a chance to be recommended to go for DSA via sports and the coach highly recommend your kid to the school. But of course is still up to the sec school to accept or reject. However, if the child is good and with strong recommendation, it helps.

I dislike current CCA system too! 靠关系helps, those no 关系at disadvantage, hence, engage coach also better check his/her background

[Ikid]

Many secondary schools visit primary school to give talks about sec school selections and they set up booth in their school canteen. So far I see these type of talks in reputable primary schools only and those sec school who came are also usually the top sec schools. Do you see such events held in the neighboring primary schools? I believe the reputable primary schools can also recommend their top students to the top secondary schools to consider, afterall, it brings glory to the primary schools if their students are accepted by any of these top sec schools via DSA. It will look good in their history records the total number their students being accepted by DSA, be it via academic, special talents or sports. Hence, P1 registration is always stressful, parents believe the child’s 1st step to the right school, with proper grooming by the school in the child’s strong area plus parents’ support will lead to the child’s success in entering their dream school.

[darwinkoh]

jetsetter:

Ok I see, thanks darwinkoh! But HSK had already said it won't be A, B, C, D last year. Instead it'll be converted to points for admin / posting purpose.

You could adopt a broad grading system like A, B, C, D, E for enrolment into universities as specialisation has kicked in at the tertiary level, and course differentiation is bigger, so it's more palatable to applicants. But for Sec 1 posting, you need a finer system to differentiate 39k PSLE candidates and distribute them across 153 schools (164 - 11 sec schools after recent merger) offering roughly the same 8-10 subjects. A, B, C, D cannot do that effectively and fairly like you've observed. It's too arbitrary.
[quote]Instead of getting a score out of 300 points, pupils will get grade bands - similar to how students get graded from A1 to F9 for the O levels or A to E for the A levels. The grades will then be converted to points to be used for admission into secondary schools.

http://www.gov.sg/news/content/the-straits-times-parents-pupils-will-get-time-to-adjust-to-psle-changes[/quote]Even for banding i.e. A1 to F9... it is still a series of steps... though the steps are indeed smaller than A to F as in A-level.
So is a series of small steps better than a gentle slope? For most of the time, a few points dun make a difference. However, if it does, the difference it makes is bigger. E.g. the great difference might come in when previously one has the option to choose express but now he have no choice but to take up normal just because he slipped into a lower band.

[eastshore]

not all systems are perfect !


in this garden city no matter what, academic will always come first !

[phtthp]

MyPillow:

if affiliation policy does chg, hope the chges are within reasonable means

not sure how many points, the primary schools' students affliated to Secondary going to get, under the new PSLE Banding system.
Not announced officially yet, by MOE.

But affliation to Secondary, had been a legacy, for decade.



if follow Secondary school system, currently, for Secondary school students who are affliated to Junior colleges (GCE A level) :
they're currently getting 2 points, for affliation.

eg
St Margaret Secondary girls (Anglican) : affliated to St Andrew Junior College (SAJC), minus 2 points

St Andrew Secondary boys (Anglican) : affliated to SAJC, minus 2 points

CHIJ Katong Convent Girls Sec (Catholic) : affliated to Catholic Junior College (CJC), minus 2 points

Paya Lebar Girls Sec (Methodist) : affliated to Anglo Chinese Junior College (ACJC), minus 2 points


minus, because for GCE O level, the lower the score, the better, to enter a Junior College.

But for P6 PSLE Raw score, the higher the score for the 4 core academic subjects (Eng, Maths, Science & Mother tongue), the better
(the other way round)

[phtthp]

dimsum:

i think the new system will result in children having less leisure time.
Re. leadership roles, character awards, i feel sometimes it cam be very biased.

not sure how the new system going to work
parents have a lot of queries, due to unknown
(particularly those parents, whose gut feel that they likely to be hit by new system, or particularly those parents from 1st batch of guinea pigs experiment take-off)

under Non-academic part :
suppose a child attend SYF (can be Band / Chinese Orchestra/ Choir/ Dance / string ensemble, aunklung ensemble, Ukelele ensemble, guitar ensemble, hand-bell ensemble, guzheng ensemble, etc) in 2016 and 2018. Two years

does it mean that
P6 student going to score 2 points (one for each year, at the twice SYF participation) ?

Or

depend on the school ?
suppose school X won Gold award, in both years SYF (2016 and 2018),
while school Z won Bronze award, in both years SYF.

does it mean that come PSLE batch, after 2018 -
P6 student from school X going to score (3 x 2 times) = 6 points, whereas

another P6 student from school Z going to score (1 x 2 times) = 2 points ?
then, these two students from different schools, got (6 -2) = 4 points, difference
(as an example to illustrate : suppose school won Gold award means can score 3 points, while won Bronze award means can score 1 point, at SYF)

hope not like that
Otherwise, inspite of students from different schools prepared so hard (they put in so much sweat, time & effort, to prepare) for SYF, in the end they all scored differently, for the same SYF participation / competition category, across inter-primary schools.

also unhealthy :
because it can create a lot of stress on (both students + Cca coaches, Trainers performing at SYF), that they must try to win Gold, if the school performance becomes translated to the final score of P6 pupils, at end of the day

[lee_yl]

Taking part in SYF completion is not an easy route. There are cases where some children whose academic results have been affected due to the need to stay back regularly for practice, when closer the competition date

[lee_yl]

I have no idea why the author said majority of the parents whom she interviewed welcomed the swopping of t-score with grades banding. So far, from the letters published in ST forums, & KSP postings, majority have serious doubts how can the swop help to reduce PSLE stress. Or it’s just cosmetic changes.


Among my mummy friends whose children are going to take PSLE in 1-2 years time, they would rather see a more even distribution of resources allocated among the schools, including the good (quality) teachers among the neighbourhood and branded schools.