1. CHANGES ADOPTED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF NATIONAL EXAMINATIONS AND THE ANTICIPATED ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK FOR THE BASIC EDUCATION CURRICULUM REFORM

2. Develop both school and post school examinations; Register candidates;
PREAMBLE
On behalf of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) I wish to take this opportunity to thank each one of you most sincerely for the role you played in ensuring smooth running of the 2016 National examinations. The task was mammoth, the demands were heavy, the expectations were extremely high but despite all that you support the Council in its endeavor to administer irregularity free examinations.
As you are all aware, the mandate of the Council as per KNEC ACT 2012 is to:
Develop both school and post school examinations;
Register candidates;
Administer and process examination results;
Issue certificates to successful candidates;
Research into examinations and curriculum; and
Equate certificates from other examining boards.

3. Some of the innovations put in place included:
INNOVATIONS PUT IN PLACE BY THE COUNCIL TO ENHANCE CREDIBILITY OF NATINAL EXAMINATIONS
In 2016 the national government through the Ministry of Education and Ministry of interior and coordination of national government empowered the governing Council of KNEC to introduce many changes in regard to administration and management of examinations with a view to having control over internal processes as well as complete control in the field.
Some of the innovations put in place included:
involvement of all the national security agencies to enhance security and effective control during dispatch, distribution and administration in the field;
engagement of count and deputy county commissioners to over see and ensure security of examination materials at all stages of the administration;
installation of containers for secure storage and distribution of examination materials, a departure from the old practice of storing examination materials in the armoiuries together with guns. This was further reinforced with the introduction of double locking system where the Deputy County Commissioners(DCCs) and the Sub-County Directors of Education(SCDEs) were made the custodian of the keys to the containers;
engagement of primary school head teachers and high school principals in the management of examinations in their respective schools thus making them directly responsible and accountable for the conduct of examinations. They were directed to collect examination materials from the containers under armed security escorts, over see the conduct of the examination papers at their centres and return candidates’ answer scripts to the containers on each day of the examination;
closing of all the schools in the month of November to the rest of the students and teachers to ensure minimal interference. This also facilitated availability of adequate number of teachers for supervision and invigilation exercise;
the Council also set up inter agency national command centre from where all examination related activities were coordinated
from, the command and control centre also had toll free call lines for receiving calls and communicating with the field on 24 hour basis.

4. EMERGING POLICY CHANGES ON EXAMINATION RELATED SERVICES
There were also a number of examination related services that were introduced by the new Council. These are:
Re-marking of candidates’ answer scripts after release of results were banned;
Replacement of lost/defaced/burnt certificates was stopped;
Late registration of candidates after the expiry of registration period was stopped with effect from the 2017 examinations;
Reduction in the duration for marking, processing and release of KCPE and KCSE examinations results was effectively implemented. The results for the 2016 KCPE and KCSE were released in a record time of less than two(2) weeks after marking;
Vetting of all teachers engaged in supervision, invigilation and marking of national examinations by Teachers Service Commission(TSC);
Return of extra question papers and related materials to KNEC after the administration of the examinations.

5. CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE 2016 EXAMINATIONS
Submission of inaccurate registration data;
Registration of candidates after the expiry of registration period;
Failure to upload and submit candidates’ photographs;
Some examination centres without valid registration certificates;
Centres presenting fewer candidates than the minimum number required as per the registration guideline;
Supervisors, invigilators and centre managers not adhering to the rules and regulations contained in the guideline on conduct of examination;
Centre managers not ensuring correct labeling/recording of scripts return envelopes;
Failure to report examination malpractices by some supervision personel.

6. ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK FOR CURRICULUM REFORM
The new curriculum is competence based and is structured as follows:
pre-primary 2years;
lower primary 3years;
upper primary 3years;
junior secondary 3years;

7. ROLE OF KNEC IN CURRICULUM REFORM 
The Kenya National Examinations Council recognizes that assessment programs for the new competency based curriculum reform must be an integral part of effective teaching, inform instruction, and should be designed to provide opportunities to a wide range of diverse learners. The assessment should effectively inform learners, parents, teachers, curriculum developers and other stakeholders about learner performance in relation to the expectation of approved curriculum learning outcomes at different grade levels.
In addition, KNEC will perform the following mandates to align assessment to the competency-based curriculum:

8. PURPOSE OF ASSESSMENT
In keeping with the expectations of Basic Education Curriculum Reform framework, Teaching Standards outlined in the Framework for Teacher Education, and other policy documents, the purposes of assessment are to:
provide valid and reliable information to learners and parents about the progress they are making towards achievement of curriculum outcomes and competencies in a learning area or subject;
identify areas of learners’ strength and weakness in relation to the defined curriculum learning outcomes/competencies as a basis for providing appropriate teaching;
help learners to improve their performance by providing appropriate feedback;
help learners develop skills as self-assessors who are responsible for their own learning;
inform teaching decisions for classroom teachers and principals as instructional leaders;
inform Ministry of Education and curriculum developers on areas to target for improvement.

9. CORE COMPETENCIES IN THE CURRICULUM REFORM
communication and collaboration
critical thinking and problem solving
imagination and creativity
digital literacy
learning to learn
self efficiency

10. TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS
Formative assessment – tool to be used to monitor progress of individual learners’ achievement using data obtained during learning process. This is done through observing, questioning, quizzes or any other method.
summative assessment – this occurs at the end of a cycle of learning and is used to determine level of achievement using variety of learning products such as performance, presentation, and demonstration.

11. assessment tools
Observation
Learning logs e,g journals
Performance tasks –demonstration, laborator work, presentation,
Written assignment – essays, research, scripts, stories articles etc.
Oral language – debate, interviews. Poetry, etc
Visual communication
Tests/quizzes

12. Assessment Rubrics – sets of score points and related describers to determine performance levels
Guideline for developing a rubrics:
Level 4 – excellence 80 – 100%
Level 3 - approaching excellence %
Level 2 - meeting grade levels expected 50 – 64%
Level does not meet standard expected 0 – 49%

13. Phases of learner assessment:
Teachers will conduct classroom assessment from pre-primary to grade 12
KNEC will develop and administer Kenya Assessment Learners’ Achievement (KALA);
KNEC will develop and administer the Kenya Certificate of Basic Education (KCBE)

14. Different levels of Assessments:
Grade 3: KALA – Numeracy, literacy and science;
Grade 6 KALA – mathematics, Literacy,(reading and writing) and science;
Grade 9 KALA – mathematics, English, Integrated science, social studies, Kiswahili/KSL and Pre-vocational studies;
KCBE (KNEC) – for senior High School (Grade 10 to 12). This is a summative Assessment to developed and administered by KNEC as final examination which will constitute 30% while 70% will come from the school based assessment.

15. CONCLUSION
As key stakeholder in the entire examination process, the Council would wish thank you most sincerely for your selfless dedication during the 2016 examinations and look forward to partner with you in 2017 in order to deliver credible examination results.
On behalf of the Council I wish to appreciate and thank you for inviting us to attend this very important annual conference to share with you our challenges and experiences on the way forward for the future.