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The Education Bureau (EDB) had noted the steady progress of students in the three core subjects of Chinese, English and Mathematics, the Deputy Secretary for Education, Dr Catherine K K Chan, said today (October 31) after receiving the report of the 2008 Territory-wide System Assessment from the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.
Introduced in 2004 at Primary 3 and extended to cover higher levels over the years, the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) aims to help schools understand students' performance in attaining basic competency in the subjects of Chinese Language, English Language and Mathematics at Primary 3, Primary 6 and Secondary 3 levels.
Dr Chan said, "The TSA reports help schools understand the strengths of their students in the three subjects and areas requiring improvement. Schools in general find the assessment reports useful in providing informative analysis of their students' strengths in various competencies.
"The reports help schools develop more appropriate curriculum plans, learning and teaching strategies to enhance student learning thus contributing to the culture of assessment for learning."
More than 1,000 primary and secondary schools and more than 200,000 students took part in the assessment this year. The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority will provide school level data to schools shortly for school improvement purposes.
EDB will continue to support schools in assessment for learning by providing professional development programmes, targeting on-site school-based support services, and facilitating the sharing of good practices among schools and teachers. Among these initiatives are several seminars on "Assessment for Learning - Using Assessment Data to Inform Learning and Teaching" to be conducted for teachers and school heads shortly.
The territory-wide percentages of students achieving basic competency in 2008, and in the years 2004-2007, are shown in the appendix.
For details of the TSA and this year's results, please refer to the website at: www.systemassessment.edu.hk.
Ends/Friday, October 31, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:07
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