PSLE Grading System to be Revamped

Question: Describe about the PSLE Grading System to be Revamped. Answer: Introduction The abbreviation PSLE refers to the Primary School Leaving Examination, which is considered as a national exam conducted in Singapore. This examination is meant for all the students who are about to move to their secondary schools and is organized and managed by the Ministry of Education. This examination tests the intelligence of students on four basic subjects, i.e. English, Mathematics, Science, and the regional language, if any. The students then get to choose the kind of the secondary school that suits them best depending on their results (Tsheko Mogapi, 2015). Recently, there has been an announcement of the change in the PSLE grading system which created a confusing atmosphere among parents, guardians, students, as well as teachers. This study deeply researches and provides arguments on whether the government should revamp the grading system or not considering its benefits, and drawbacks. Should the PSLE grading system of using T-scores be revamped? First of all, lets have a look at what a T-score means. In psychometrics, a T-score can be defined as standard criteria used to calculate the scores of students in schools. It can be calculated by multiplying the value of a Z score by 10 and after then the addition of 50 points in the result. It is basically a transformation process which changes the raw scores into standard scores (Sedgwick, 2010). There is a special formula to calculate the value of T-score, which is as follows: T = 10 * Z + 50 Where, 50 is the value of mean, and 10 is the value of standard deviation. The use of T-scores let the individuals know their positions from the mean. For the calculation of T-scores, the value of Z-score is essential which can be calculated as follows: Z = x M / SD Here, x is the raw score, M is the abbreviation of mean, and SD stands for standard deviation. The issues that a PSLE grading system using T-scores surrounds affects moral and ethical values of students. The system is not as flexible and diverse. It hinders the growth and development of students on moral grounds. The students do not get enough time to focus on their moral development and work on their values because of the strict grading criteria that lead them just to concentrate on the academics. On the basis of T-scores, students are generally compared to others irrespective of how well they himself have worked for it. It leads to demotivation and the lack of confidence among students. They usually get the identity and the place in the society, depending on their scores which is a wrong way of categorizing students (Teng, 2016). In the race of being first, sometimes it happens that students behave ethically wrong like cheating, using improper ways to get higher marks and do such things that are not acceptable and are also not viable for their future development. This is jus t because the way grading system and the education system is administered. It is the notion of many of the parents that changes in the grading system will not help in reducing the stress on the students at all. In an interview, a lady named Carina Chuah points out that the new grade bands will not help in reducing stress as the students have to ensure that the marks in every band should be at par, otherwise it will affect their overall score and achievement levels (Wong, 2016). The big question about the revamp is that when everyone will be graded on the basis of their raw scores, then how the brightest students will get their chance to be on top. It will create a kios in the society, and the emerging talents are going to disappear. The other questions that will arise after this change are what will be the selection and enrollment criteria of secondary schools and how will schools choose good students as most of the students will be graded in the same category irrespective of their knowledge and intellect. This will surely be a disproportionate strategy and create an unbalanced atmosphere within the schools and in the minds of the students. T-score is a well-organized criteria that provide each and every student a fair chance to show their mental capacities, on the basis of which they get their rankings (Yang, 2016). The new system will be a mess with more chances of categorizing an average student and a good student at the same level. The current system is more transparent, trustworthy, clear, and functional while the new system is unfair and ambiguous. There exists a mixed opinion among people about the changes in the grading system. Some parents have a saying that the new grade bands are a great start as it will assess the capabilities of students based on their performance and intelligence rather than a comparison of scores with their peers. According to the government, a PSLE grading system using T-scores create more pressure on the parents as well as students as there persists a tough competition to be on top as Mr. Ng said in one of the articles (U-Wen, 2016). Due to the current system, students lose their all other interests and keep on working to be on the top of the race whether it is of their interest or not. The new system will encourage students to focus more on the co-curricular activities of their interest, and the competition will be reduced, but the focus on academics will also be minimized. It is considered as a new step in the development of morals, character, and values into the students as not only the academic q ualification helps students do better in their life, but also the attitude and the values hold equal importance (Ng, 2016). Even though the numbers in the new system are different, but the segmentation is almost the same, so the stress will still be an issue among all (Ngerng, 2016). Conclusion While looking towards the changes the government proposed in the education system, it is clear that there is not much help it will provide in future. The grades will be changed to Achievement levels, but when the grading pattern of the new system comes into existence, it will become more difficult for the students to score higher as under the T-score pattern, 75 marks will provide an A whereas in the new system, the score of 75 will provide the grade 4 to the student which is two levels down. Therefore, this will be a demotivating and a much stressful pattern for the students, and the government should think twice before making any changes in the current system of the education system. References Ng, J. (2016).Tweaks to Psle alone won't relieve pressure on children.The Straits Times. Retrieved 8 October 2016, from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/tweaks-to-psle-alone-wont-relieve-pressure-on-children Ngerng, R. (2016).New Psle Education Scoring System: Does it Change Anything?.The Heart Truths. Retrieved 8 October 2016, from https://thehearttruths.com/2016/07/14/new-psle-education-scoring-system-does-it-change-anything/ Sedgwick, P. (2010). T scores and z scores.Bmj,341(dec30 2), c7362-c7362. Teng, A. (2016).Parliament: Psle scoring system to be revamped; T-score to be removed from 2021.The Straits Times. Retrieved 8 October 2016, from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/parliament-psle-scoring-system-to-be-revamped-t-score-to-be-removed-from-2021 Tsheko, G. Mogapi, M. (2015). An Investigation of the Apparent Speeded Nature of Primary School Leaving Composition and Letter Writing Examination.Tpls,5(5), 894. U-Wen, L. (2016).Psle T-score to make way for scoring bands in 2021.The Business Times. Retrieved 8 October 2016, from https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-budget-2016/psle-t-score-to-make-way-for-scoring-bands-in-2021 Wong, J. (2016).What's the big deal about the Psle changes? - Happy Sparks.Happysparks.com. Retrieved 8 October 2016, from https://www.happysparks.com/article/EDC160720-0000001 Yang, C. (2016).Changes to Psle grading: What could be in store?.The Straits Times. Retrieved 8 October 2016, from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/changes-to-psle-grading-what-could-be-in-store