Survey What? It's a way of asking group or community members what they see as the most important needs of that group or community is. The results of the survey then guide future action. Generally, the needs that are rated most important are the ones that get addressed. www.Padasalai.Net

Survey Why? To learn more about what a group or community needs. To supplement own sharp-eyed observations and experiences. To give detailed information from a representative group of people than from observation alone. To become aware of possible needs that was never seen as particularly important or that was never known.

STATE LEVEL ACHIEVEMENT SURVEY Objectives To study the learning achievement levels of students in elementary cycle. To evaluate the effectiveness of inputs and child entitlements on students’ learning levels. To study the effect of intervening variables (such as home background, school and teacher characteristic, etc.) on achievement of students. To study the difference in achievement with regard to gender, location, medium of instruction and social groups . To use the results for planning activities for the next year.

STATE LEVEL ACHIEVEMENT SURVEY Purpose of SLAS is to: Assess the learning achievement levels of students of different classes in different subject areas. Own responsibility and accountability of the results of the survey. Revise planning and undertake required interventions for enhanced learning outcomes visible in the next surveys.

STATE LEVEL ACHIEVEMENT SURVEY Regular, reliable, timely assessment is a key to improve learning achievement. 2012-13 - Baseline survey in all the blocks across the State for classes I to VIII which was widely appreciated by MHRD. Further, as instructed by MHRD SLAS has been conducted during 2013-14 and 2014-15. Study has provided scope for proper planning of the activities and to strengthen them in the areas of need for improvement. The ultimate aim of conducting achievement survey is not only to measure the student performance, but also to support and improve daily instruction.

SLAS 2014-15 Classes III, V and VIII. Classes III & V - Tamil, English & Maths Class VIII - Tamil, English, Maths & Science Item Response Theory (IRT) has been applied in developing the assessment tool and in drawing conclusions. Assessment tools - Class wise & Subject wiseTest papers, Student Questionnaire, Teacher Questionnaire, School Questionnaire, Response Sheets, Attendance Sheets, School Information Sheet.

Item Response Theory (IRT) Imagine for a second that you’re teaching a math remediation course full of fourth graders. You’ve just administered a test with 10 questions. Of those 10 questions, two questions are trivial, two are incredibly hard, and the rest are equally difficult. Now imagine that two of your students take this test and answer nine of the 10 questions correctly. The first student answers an easy question incorrectly, while the second answers a hard question incorrectly. How would you try to identify the student with higher ability?

Item Response Theory IRT uses a mathematical model to link a student’s chance of answering correctly a particular item to two main factors: the student’s level of ability and the item’s level of difficulty. IRT places students and test items on the same numerical scale. This enables us to produce meaningful ‘maps’ of item difficulty and student ability. In IRT, the difficulty parameter for an item does not depend upon the group of test takers. IRT also allows us to compare scores from tests used in different cycles- an essential characteristic for monitoring progress over time. For a given ability level, the probability of a correct answer increases as item difficulty decreases. Similarly, for a given question difficulty level, the probability of a correct answer increases as student ability increases

For a given ability level, the probability of a correct answer increases as item difficulty decreases. Similarly, for a given question difficulty level, the probability of a correct answer increases as student ability increases.