DSA 2017

[Yngmng]

Nebbermind:

Grr_roxy:

Just curious. This issue was never addressed anywhere - If those kids DSA via sports and that their academic does not match the school's high standard, then what's going to happen later? Remember the RI boys case sometimes back? I guess sometimes we parents are just too caught up with the branded school and we overlook whether our kids can cope in that top tier school. I believe there are more such cases but they were never really publicly brought up except for once.

What if they were never expected to match the school's high standard right from the start?

The RI case was quite sad. Given that they had to spend much time on training and competition ( including overseas competition) in an IP school, their studies will definitely suffer. They probably would have done better in their studies had they studied in a school with peers whose results are closer to theirs....perhaps, MOE should review the COP for this group...

[Grr_roxy]

Nebbermind:

Grr_roxy:

Just curious. This issue was never addressed anywhere - If those kids DSA via sports and that their academic does not match the school's high standard, then what's going to happen later? Remember the RI boys case sometimes back? I guess sometimes we parents are just too caught up with the branded school and we overlook whether our kids can cope in that top tier school. I believe there are more such cases but they were never really publicly brought up except for once.

What if they were never expected to match the school's high standard right from the start?

Yes, you are right. I believe having a category to DSA via sports is not to match the school's high standard. But if the kid's ability is too far away from the school's standard, then wouldn't the kid have problems coping? Imagine a 200 entry point vs those who achieve >260 to get into the school. Anyway, this is based on my personal views.

[Grr_roxy]

Nebbermind:

Grr_roxy:

Just curious. This issue was never addressed anywhere - If those kids DSA via sports and that their academic does not match the school's high standard, then what's going to happen later? Remember the RI boys case sometimes back? I guess sometimes we parents are just too caught up with the branded school and we overlook whether our kids can cope in that top tier school. I believe there are more such cases but they were never really publicly brought up except for once.

What if they were never expected to match the school's high standard right from the start?

Yes, you are right. I believe having a category to DSA via sports is not to match the school's high standard. But if the kid's ability is too far away from the school's standard, then wouldn't the kid have problems coping? Imagine a 200 entry point vs those who achieve >260 to get into the school. Anyway, this is based on my personal views.

[Nebbermind]

Yngmng:

The RI case was quite sad. Given that they had to spend much time on training and competition ( including overseas competition) in an IP school, their studies will definitely suffer. They probably would have done better in their studies had they studied in a school with peers whose results are closer to theirs....perhaps, MOE should review the COP for this group...

What if they are passionate about their sports and had always wanted to do both concurrently?

[AppleCrumble]

ksks:

I heard acs sec baker has all students from acs family. No room for outsiders.

In the past, 100% of ACS Barker Road (not acs sec baker) of its Sec 1 students (Express) are from its 2 feeder primary schools - ACS (Primary) and ACS (Junior) based on S1 Posting Exercise. Exception was 1 year where they increased the number of Express classes at the last minute and there were 'outsiders' posted to ACS Barker Road.

But this is not the case for its N(A) and N(T) classes. There are 'outsiders' posted to this school in the S1 Posting Exercise.

So it is not quite right to say 'No room for outsiders'. But with this new MOE policy where 20% of its students must come from non-affiliated schools, those boys from its 2 feeder primary schools scoring low 20x (based on t-score) will face the likelihood of not being able to be admitted to ACS Barker Road Express stream during the S1 Posting Exercise.

Nonetheless, I am aware that there are 'outsiders' who are successful with their appeals to ACS Barker Road at Sec 1. Possibly due some of the ACS boys going overseas (because of parent's job posting) or transferring to international schools to continue their secondary school education. This frees up some vacancies for appeal cases.

[Yngmng]

Nebbermind:

Yngmng:

The RI case was quite sad. Given that they had to spend much time on training and competition ( including overseas competition) in an IP school, their studies will definitely suffer. They probably would have done better in their studies had they studied in a school with peers whose results are closer to theirs....perhaps, MOE should review the COP for this group...

What if they are passionate about their sports and had always wanted to do both concurrently?

Then, they have to put in a lot of effort to do well in both...hopefully, they have supporting classmates and teachers ....

[FantasyLandDreams]

Not sure if I miss out anything while reading the news, was it mention anywhere at which point of the admission process the ‘20%’ reserved for non-affiliated students comes in?


Is the sequence of admission like the below:
1. Take in DSA students first
2. Take in non-affiliated students based on t-score up to 20 per cent of sec 1 cohort
3. Take in affiliated primary school student up to 80 per cent of sec 1 cohort , based on their t-score
4. If there is any remainder vacancy, it’s based on t-score

[coast]

- deleted -

[coast]

darwinkoh:

coast:

My understanding is that removal of GAT applies to all (refer to his speech in link below). As for DSA Academic, all schools can continue if they want but it has to be subject specific domain.

https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/speeches/moe-fy-2017-committee-of-supply-debate-speech-by-minister-of-education-schools-ng-chee-meng

\"56.\tMr Ang Wei Neng asked for a breakdown of the DSA admission numbers in 2016. I would like to clarify that schools received 16,000 applications last year, with some students applying to more than one school. Eventually, a total of 2,800 students were admitted to secondary school via DSA, half of whom were admitted to the Integrated Programme, or IP. This is unsurprising, given that IP schools have full discretion in admission, while the majority of secondary schools can only set aside 5%, 10% or 20% of their Secondary 1 intake for DSA places today, depending on the type of school.\"

I interpret it IP schools can have that flexibility. Thanks

Thanks for sharing your view. I read the DSA portion of his speech again.

\"60. We will also make changes to DSA processes. First, we will refine DSA selection. Today, all applicants who apply for a particular DSA category in a school go through the same selection that is open and merit-based. The selection matches a student’s strengths and interests to a school’s talent development programmes, and ensures that students are able to cope with the academic rigour of the school’s programmes.\"

It's mentioned above that current DSA ensures ... cope with academic rigour ...

It's mentioned in Points 61 to 63 \"We will start refining the DSA selection from this year, to better achieve the objectives of DSA. Schools will focus on identifying students with specific talents and move away from recognising strong general academic abilities. ... As part of this refinement, schools will discontinue the use of general academic ability tests in DSA selection by 2018 ... Schools can conduct their selection via a range of assessment tools including interviews, trials, auditions and subject tests. They will also consider the applicant’s overall portfolio and achievements.

For those going for Sports/ Arts ... do they have to take subject tests? If not, is it possible to ensure that they can cope with academic riquor with the removal of GAT?

If they have to take subject tests, back to square 1?

For those applying for specific subject domain, do they have to take other subjects' test? If not, how to ensure that they can cope with academic riquor?

Sorry I am not quite sure if removal of GAT applies to IP schools :?

Thanks.

[yap_susan]

Any idea how many DSA applications can we apply? Now is centralised application yet?