CBC Assessment Methods, Rubrics and Tools: A Practical Guide for Schools
CBC (now CBE) assessment is continuous and rubric-based. Here are the assessment methods teachers use, how the performance levels work, the national assessments, and how to keep records without drowning in paper.
Under Kenya's Competency-Based Curriculum (now called Competency-Based Education, CBE), assessment isn't one big exam. It's evidence collected continuously, showing what each learner can do in each strand. That's good for learners and heavy on teachers' records.
CBC assessment methods
- Observation: watching learners perform a task, with a checklist
- Oral questions and discussions
- Written tasks and tests
- Projects and practical work, alone or in groups
- Portfolios: a collection of a learner's work over time
- Self and peer assessment
Rubrics and performance levels
A rubric describes what each level of performance looks like for a specific skill. The four broad levels are Exceeding Expectations, Meeting Expectations, Approaching Expectations and Below Expectations. For junior school national assessment, KNEC reports on a finer scale that splits each level in two. Good rubrics describe observable behaviour, so two teachers would give the same learner the same level.
National assessments
- KPSEA at the end of Grade 6, combined with school-based assessment
- KJSEA at the end of Grade 9, which informs placement into senior school pathways
- School-based assessments (SBAs) through the year, uploaded to KNEC
CBC assessment tools that save teachers time
The paperwork is the hard part: rubric scores per learner, per strand, per term. Digital assessment tools let teachers record levels on a phone, build portfolios with photos, and generate report cards automatically. That's the problem SkoolForm Academy and our school systems are built to solve.
Antony Mungai
Founder, Steff Cloud — building websites, systems and automation for Kenyan businesses from Nakuru.