Equivalence in School Examination Boards

The School Boards may differ in two main parameters:

The process of conducting exams, setting question papers etc. These may include, amongst others,

• Curriculum Alignment: Exam papers are designed to assess students' understanding of the curriculum. Different boards might have different curricula, leading to variations in the content and format of exam questions.
• Question Types: Boards may use various question types, such as multiple-choice, short answer, essays, and practical assessments, to assess students' skills and knowledge levels. The percentage of higher order and lower order questions and how often they higher order same questions are being repeated.
• Quality Control: Established boards follow a process to ensure the quality and fairness of questions. This involves review by subject experts to avoid biases and errors.

The Boards may also differ in the opportunities they provide to the students enrolled in the schools affiliated to the board and in their ways of conduct of examination. These would be:

• Infrastructure and Pedagogical Facilities: Ensuring quality inputs by affiliated schools during transactions e.g. necessitating the availability of a sports/ play ground in the school complex,
• Accessibility and Accommodations: Schools and examination centers need to provide accessible facilities for students. e.g. if in a hilly area, the child has to walk for 3 miles to reach school and then write the exam, is an appropriate time period for the conduct of the exams being looked into. Are there appropriate accommodations for children with disabilities too.
• Security and Supervision: Examination centers must maintain strict security to prevent cheating or malpractice during exams. This might involve measures like monitoring, seating arrangements, and restricted access to exam rooms.
• Timely Conduct of Examination and Declaration of Results: Boards and schools must adhere to schedules for exam administration to maintain consistency and fairness.

To understand the above, and some other, differences in the functioning of the Boards and to bring in some sort of semblance in their administration, one of the major activities?initiated under #PARAKH is to work on '#EquivalenceOfBoards'. Two tools were prepared to study the existing practices being followed in the school boards and to focus on the Board's question papers.?The tools were piloted before using in the main study.

- Question Paper Analysis Template

- Questionnaire to understand the functioning of the Boards.

Five (5) regional workshops were conducted as detailed below to get inputs from the Boards:?

A total of 36 boards have participated in the main study.?The Sanskrit, Madrasas and the technical boards were excluded from the study as the curricular framework for these were very different.?

The data gathered during the workshops is now being analyzed:

• Analyze the Question Papers developed by the boards: The objective of analyzing the question papers currently used by school boards is to gain insights into the quality, relevance, and effectiveness of the examination system. This analysis aims to evaluate the alignment of question papers with learning standards, the level of difficulty and appropriateness of questions, the inclusion of choices, the variance in cognitive demand, like critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and more. By thoroughly examining these question papers, variance and similarities amongst boards will come to light. This will define a base on which equivalence guidelines can be prepared.?
• Study the opportunity and facility extended by school boards in the context of equivalence: The second objective focuses on studying the opportunities and facilities provided by school boards with regard to achieving equivalence. This objective involves exploring the measures taken by educational boards to ensure that students from different boards have equal opportunities for further education or employment. It includes studying policies, procedures, and support systems implemented by school boards to facilitate seamless transitions, recognition, and equivalency of academic qualifications and achievements.