Notice

click here for IIIF manifest

EXTRAORDINARY

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

No. 1680 CUTTACK, FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2019 / BHADRA 8, 1941

SCHOOL & MASS EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

NOTIFICATION

The 30th July, 2019

Subject : Garima Awards- Odisha School Certification Program

Ama Pila Ama Garima

No.15776–SME-MSSA-MSSA1-0028/2019/SME.―Concept Note and Standard Operating Procedure :

1. Background

Department of School & Mass Education is the nodal department for managing Elementary Education, Secondary Education, Teachers Training, Sanskrit Education, Computer Education, Special Education and Mass Education in the State. The department manages over 60,000 schools in the State and responsible for the education of about 65 lakh students. The literacy rate of Odisha as per 2011 Census is 72.9%, however, in terms of learning outcomes according to the latest NAS survey, only 53% students were able to answer question on basic competencies correctly.

In September 2017, SATH program was launched in partnership with NITI Aayog to improve the learning outcomes and make Odisha a model State for education in India.

Several initiatives have been launched under Project SATH in the past year. Two of these initiatives – Learning Enhancement Program (LEP) and Odisha School Monitoring App (OSMA) are particularly critical to drive learning outcome and school improvement.

Both initiatives are being implemented in all Schools, Blocks and Districts. In order to sustain the momentum, it is proposed to recognize and reward best performing schools in terms of Learning Outcomes and motivate the rest to improve performance. Most importantly, it is imperative to communicate that improving learning outcomes is the end objective. To achieve this objective, the State has decided to launch the School Certification Program to recognize and reward schools that are making progress. Under this program, schools can nominate themselves to be assessed and certified under three categories. Certified schools will be recognized and rewarded.

This concept note outlines the levels of certification, rewards thereof, the process of certification and the role of each level in the process.

2. Key Objectives of the Certification program

The program is designed to motivate teachers to bring students to achieve grade level competencies. To ensure quality and transparency assessment will be conducted by an unbiased party. The following are the key objectives of the program:

• Identify good performing schools basis academic performance

• Encouraging school to help students to accomplish grade level Learning Outcomes

• Generate healthy competition amongst schools in the Block/District

• Recognize and reward these schools HMs and Teachers

• Recognize and reward schools, Clusters and Blocks that are ensuring students at appropriate learning outcomes

3. Features of the Certification program

• Metrics for certifying schools are based on Learning Outcomes:―

Schools will be assessed only on learning outcomes to get certified & rewarded. Certification is for Elementary schools only. There is a pre- certification exercise to check accurate reporting of a few important data point in the School Monitoring App.

• Engagement of all stakeholders:―All elementary (and primary + upper primary section of secondary) schools can get certified. When a certain percentage of schools get certified, the relevant Cluster & Block will also get certified.

• 3 levels of Certification:―Certification will be given at three levels- Bronze, Silver, and Gold, with increasing level of difficulty. Three levels will help the State:

• Keep motivation up by making schools see quick successes

• Break down ultimate goal into clear benchmarks for a clear pathway • Identify high performers early and handhold them to achieve higher level of certification.

• Unbiased assessment:―Certifications will be provided on the basis of a centrally prepared assessment for the nominated school. This assessment will be conducted by a team comprising of DIETs, as an unbiased assessor.

• Rewards & incentives:―On achieving each level of certification, schools will be given meaningful incentives and rewards in order to motivate them.

4. Metrics to achieve for each level of Certification:

School will be certified basis achievement of Learning Outcomes. Certain non- academic parameters are put in place in the pre-verification phase to verify the data as reported in the School Monitoring App by the CRCC of the school for that month. The parameters are as follows:―

• Does the school have separate functioning toilet for boys/girls? (Yes/No) • Does the school have safe drinking water facility? (Yes/No)

• Does the school have electricity connection with working lights and fans?

(Yes/No)

• Was LEP conducted for all periods (during Learning Camp) and one period (during ROY)? (Yes/No)

• Do ALL students have all the LEP books that they need? (Yes/No)

• Is the SDP-SSP plan prepared? (Yes/No)

Please note that school doesn't get disqualified if there is a "No" on these parameters, but if there is mismatch from what the CRCC has reported in the App for that month and what the pre-verification team reports, then there will be disqualification and the Academic test will not be conducted. This is done to ensure that all CRCCs report the factual picture during their monitoring visits and the schools also take ownership against wrong data being reported.

School level metrics to be tested:

A full list of academic parameters can be found in Appendix 1 for Bronze.

Silver/Gold will be administered by a centrally prepared question bank

Note:

1. Appearing Student to pass the test to score >60% marks

2. A school can first apply for Bronze, once certified for Bronze can they apply for Silver/Gold in the next cycle.

3. If the attendance of students on the day of test is <70% then the school will be disqualified

Cluster/Block level Certification :

5. Standard Operating Procedure for Certification:

There will be 3 rounds of Certification in a year- August, November and February.

The process and key dates for each Round is defined below:

(1) Self-Nomination:― When a school feels that it has achieved the targets defined for a particular level of certification, it may choose to nominate itself for that level of certification by informing the same to their CRCC, who will fill the nomination form. The application will automatically be forwarded to the next level. A school has to nominate itself by the 15th of the month of the certification (eg: 15th August for August cycle of certification), nomination forms open 30 days before the deadline. Nominations received after that deadline will be considered for the next cycle. School HM and CRCC should ensure the following before self-nomination:

All nominations should first be for Bronze; application to Silver directly is not allowed. Similarly application to Gold is not allowed before Silver has been achieved. On attainment of one level of certification, schools will have to wait for next cycle before they can apply for the next level of certification.

(2) BEO/Block team pre-verification:―School nominating themselves will be pre-verified by a Block team headed by the BEO/BRCC. In this phase CRCCs of an adjoining cluster will be used verify the list of pre-verification parameters, BEO will have to coordinate the process such that no CRCC is pre-verifying their own school and conduct sample checks to ensure quality. A checklist for this process will be provided such that there is no discrepancy. This will include:

(a) List of non-academic parameters as mentioned in Section 4

(b) Teacher attendance register for past 30 days to verify attendance criteria (>70%).

(c) Re-checking of a sample papers (>20% of all papers) of latest SA1/SA2 of the students to assess if the academic parameter are sufficiently met.

This verification must be completed by the 25th of cycle month (25th August for the August cycle), if the school doesn't meet the criterion, then the application will be summarily rejected at this level. The DEO/DPC should coordinate the process for the District and ensure that the verifications of any nominations received within deadline is done. If a school has a grievance with pre-verification conducted, they may submit an appeal to the DPC vide a letter stating their reasons to believe otherwise. On appeal, the school will be re-verified by District level officials.

(3) Assessment by District team:―Only schools passing the above pre-verification, will then be eligible for the assessment as per the level of certification applied for. The assessment will be conducted by a District team consisting of DIET faculty & students, DEO/DPC (or his/her representative) and BEO of another block.

This team will conduct the assessment from the question paper prepared by the DIETs and DEOs/BEO will ensure smooth implementation. DIETs will prepare the question paper using the centrally prepared guideline/rubric for Bronze (appendix 1) and central question bank for Silver and Gold.

The test will be conducted for all present students, if the student attendance on the day of the test is <70% the test will not be conducted and schools application is deferred to the next cycle. Test will be evaluated by DIETs and results of the test will be used to check if the academic certification criteria is met or not. All answer sheets should be collected, scored, and retained at the DEO/DPC level. School not meeting the certification will be not be eligible to apply in the next cycle. This activity should be completed by the 7th of the following month (example- 7th September for August cycle).

(4) Approval /rejection – After the assessment is completed, data will be analysed and a list of certified schools will be announced before the 10th of the following month. This activity has to be completed by DIETs and the list communicated to the DEO office. If approved, the school will get certified and avail of the associated rewards. It may now apply for the next level of certification in the next cycle. If rejected, the school will not be able to nominate itself for the next cycle.

Additional notes:

A sample of schools can be selected for external third party verification as well (by an external vendor). If on external verification, it is found that the certification information reported is incorrect, the relevant District team will be given a warning and Certification will not be awarded.

6. Rewards linked to Certification:

In order to motivate officials, it is proposed that tangible rewards be linked to each level of Certification. While certificates & letters of appreciation will be sufficient for Bronze certification, physical & monetary rewards may be considered for Silver & Gold levels.

Apart from this, inclusion of the certification of a school, may be considered as a parameter in the State Teacher Award criteria. This will ensure that there is seriousness in the field for these certification.

7. Role and Responsibilties of various officers in the program

CRCC :

• Responsible for filling the application for own cluster, if the HM wishes to nominate.

• Ensure that all the data reported on the OSMA app are correct, if there is discrepancy in the data then application will be rejected, even if the academic outcomes were met.

BEO/BRCC:

• Ensure that all the schools in the Block are aware of the program and eligible schools are applying. They may issue a letter/circular to all schools.

• BEO/BRCC along with the team of CRCCs is responsible for completing the pre-verification of the nominated schools.

• Dividing work of pre-verification amongst the CRCCs of different cluster and overseeing the quality by doing sample checks.

• Ensure pre-verification is complete for all nominated schools in his Block by the 25th

DEO/DPC:

• Coordinate the pre-verification process and ensure that all deadlines are met • Formulate the team conducting the assessment including himself/herself, a BEO and DIET faculty, coordinate the smooth implementation of the assessment process.

• Fund mobilization for the team members (TA/DA/Honorarium) to perform pre- verification and assessment.

DIET Principal and Faculty :

• Responsible for formulating the question paper from the central question bank (Gold/Silver) and preparing paper basis the ladder for Bronze (Appendix 1)

• Conduct the assessment and evaluate the papers for all students in the school.

• Verify if the academic parameters are met for the school at that level of certification.

• Recommend the list of certified school who meet the criteria and communicate to DEO, SCERT and OSEPA.

SCERT :

• Develop the competency list to be tested and detailed guideline for preparation of question paper at the DIET level for Bronze.

• Prepare the central question bank for Silver and Gold level of certification • Coordinate the process of assessment from the DIETs

• Collect the final result of the assessment from all DIETs and publish list of certified schools by the 10th of the month next to the cycle.

OSEPA :

• Own the entire program and ensure that the program is continued and refreshed

• Monitor the process and ensure that all deadlines for pre-verification, assessment are met by all stakeholders.

• Finalize the rewards and recognition to be given out to the certified schools • Fund mobilization including, but not limited to, logistics, rewards etc, for the program.

8. Expected Pace of Certifications and budget:

9. Timelines for Round 1 of Certification:

10. Appendix

(1) Detailed school level certification parameters for bronze category

schools

The schools shall be certified (Bronze Category) on the basis of accomplishment of Learning Outcomes by the students. The detailed learning Outcome–wise blue prints for assessment of student's performance are given below. The DIETs are expected to prepare test items for the assessment and a team of experts consisting of one DIET faculty (assisted by one or two student- teachers), DEO/DPC (or his /her representative), and BEO of another block will assess all the students present on the day of assessment. The assessment exercise shall be conducted for whole day and transparency shall be maintained by the district level assessment team.

(2) Primary level (grade 2 -5)

The students shall be assessed on basic competencies in Language and Mathematics. Basic literacy skills in First Language (Odia/ Urdu etc.) and numeracy shills to be assessed. All the students, present on the day of assessment, shall be assessed. Class-wise assessment shall be done by the assessment team. 80 % students of each grade / class need to give secure 60% marks in each subject to get the Bronze Certificate.

PRIMARY LEVEL (GRADE 2 -5) Mathematics

LANGUAGE- ODIA/URDU (Class 2-5):

UPPER PRIMARY LEVEL (CLASS 6-8) :

The students shall be assessed on basic competencies in Language (Odia/ Urdu), English and Mathematics. Literacy skills in First Language (Odia/ Urdu etc.), basic knowledge in English language and numeracy skills shall be assessed. All the students, present on the day of assessment, shall be assessed. Class-wise assessment shall be done by the assessment team. 80 % students of each grade / class need to give secure 60% marks in each subject to get the Bronze Certificate.

UPPER PRIMARY LEVEL (GRADE 6 -8) Mathematics

ENGLISH (Class 6-8):

LANGUAGE-Odia (Class 6-8):

ORDER : Ordered that this notification shall be published in the Odisha Gazette.

By Order of the Governor

P.K. MOHAPATRA

Additional Chief Secretary to Government

Printed and published by the Director, Printing, Stationery and Publication, Odisha, Cuttack-10 Ex. Gaz. 1011-173+100