Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) refers to a system of school-based evaluation of students that covers all aspects of a students’ development.

It is a developmental process of a child which emphasizes on two fold objectives. These objectives are continuity in evaluation on one hand and assessment of broad based learning and behavioral outcomes on the other.

The term ‘continuous’ is meant to emphasize that evaluation of identified aspects of students’ ‘growth and development’ is a continuous process rather than an event, built into the total teaching-learning process and spread over the entire span of academic session. It means regularity of assessment, diagnosis of learning gaps, and use of corrective measures and feedback of evidence to teachers and students for their self evaluation.

The second term ‘comprehensive’ means that the scheme attempts to cover both the scholastic and the co-scholastic aspects of students’ growth and development. Since abilities, attitudes and aptitudes can manifest themselves in forms other than the written word, the term refers to application of a variety of tools and techniques (both testing and non-testing) and aims at assessing a learner’s development in areas of learning like:

• Remembering

• Understanding

• Applying

• Analyzing

• Evaluating

•Creating

Objectives of CCE are:

• To help develop cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills.

• To lay emphasis on thought process and de-emphasize memorization.

• To make evaluation an integral part of teaching-learning process.

• To use evaluation for improvement of students’ achievement and teaching – learning strategies on the basis of regular diagnosis followed by remedial instruction.

• To use evaluation as a quality control device to maintain desired standard of performance.

• To determine social utility, desirability or effectiveness of a programme and take appropriate decisions about the learner, the process of learning and the learning environment.

• To make the process of teaching and learning a learner-centered activity.

Features of CCE

• The ‘continuous’ aspect of CCE takes care of ‘continual’ and ‘periodicity’ aspect of evaluation.

• Continual means assessment of students in the beginning of instruction (placement evaluation) and assessment during the instructional process (formative evaluation) done informally using multiple techniques of evaluation.

• Periodicity means assessment of performance done frequently at the end of unit/term (summative)

• The ‘comprehensive’ component of CCE takes care of assessment of all round development of the child’s personality. It includes assessment in Scholastic as well as Co-Scholastic aspects of the pupil’s growth.

• Scholastic aspects include curricular areas or subject specific areas, whereas co-scholastic aspects include Life Skills, Co-Curricular Activities, Attitudes, and Values.

• Assessment in scholastic areas is done informally and formally using multiple techniques of evaluation continually and periodically. The diagnostic evaluation takes place at the end of a unit/term test. The causes of poor performance in some units are diagnosed using diagnostic tests. These are followed up with appropriate interventions followed by retesting.

• Assessment in Co-Scholastic areas is done using multiple techniques on the basis of identified criteria, while assessment in Life Skills is done on the basis of Indicators of Assessment and checklists.

The functions of CCE are:

• It helps the teacher to organize effective teaching strategies.

• Continuous evaluation helps in regular assessment to the extent and degree of learner’s progress (ability and achievement with reference to specific scholastic and co-scholastic areas).

• Continuous evaluation serves to diagnose weaknesses and permits the teacher to ascertain an individual learner’s strengths and weaknesses and his/her needs. It provides immediate feedback to the teacher, who can then decide whether a particular unit or concept needs re-teaching in the whole class or whether a few individuals are in need of remedial instruction.

• By continuous evaluation, children can know their strengths and weaknesses. It provides the child a realistic self-assessment of how he/she studies. It can motivate children to develop good study habits, to correct errors, and to direct their activities towards the achievement of desired goals. It helps a learner to determine the areas of instruction in which more emphasis is required.

• Continuous and comprehensive evaluation identifies areas of aptitude and interest. It helps in identifying changes in attitudes, and value systems.

• It helps in making decisions for the future, regarding choice of subjects, courses and careers.