August 5, 2019

The recent revamp of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) scoring system by the Ministry of Education (MOE) changed the grading system from a T-score system to one with achievement-level (AL) bands. The former grades students relative to their peers and gives a standardised score to each student while the latter grades students against an absolute standard before assigning AL bands to their scores. These changes affect both the Standard level and the Foundation level – which caters to academically weaker students. At the Foundation level, there will be three wide scoring bands – AL A (75-100 marks), AL B (30-74 marks), and AL C (below 30 marks).

Dr Kelvin Seah Kah Cheng (NUS Department of Economics), in an editorial in The Straits Times, discusses the consequences that can arise from these changes at the Foundation level. By categorising students’ grades according to discrete bands, incentives to compete are significantly blunted and students may be less motivated to exert effort to learn. The broadness of the AL bands may cause students to put in the minimum effort required to attain a certain band since putting in greater effort to get a higher score within that same band would seem unnecessary.

The AL band system may also induce teachers to channel more time and energy to students who score close to the threshold between bands; the reason being teachers may think that these students have higher chances for improvement. Dr Seah outlines the possible effects of this strategic behaviour as he cites a study by economists Derek Neal and Diane Schanzenbach on a similar grading system in the United States where students are rated as either being proficient or not in each subject. The study found that less attention was given to weak students who are far away from the proficiency threshold and strong students who were already deemed proficient.

Regardless, Dr Seah acknowledges the good intentions behind the revamp of the PSLE grading system as it seeks to avoid destructive competition and reduce stress among students. However, he maintains that it will be useful to anticipate the changes in incentives faced by students, teachers, and parents from the revamp so that any adverse effects can be addressed early.

Read the article here.