Fwd: [Referral from EDB] Questions about HKDSE, SBA and university admission system
Simon H WANG
From: Access to Information Officer <at...@hkeaa.edu.hk>
Date: Thu, May 21, 2020 at 1:54 PM
Subject: RE: [Referral from EDB] Questions about HKDSE, SBA and university admission system
To: simo...@hkbu.edu.hk <simo...@hkbu.edu.hk>
Cc: Tse Ka Wing <ts...@hkeaa.edu.hk>
HKEAA Reference number: ATI2005005
Dear Simon Wang,
The Education Bureau forwarded your Access to Information requests to the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) on 13 May 2020. Please find our reply regarding questions 5-9 in your request as follows.
- Given the government’s investment and commitment to eLearning, does the bureau plan to digitalize SBA, i.e. let students submit their SBA work in digital forms?
The School-based Assessment (SBA) is part of learning and teaching in schools. Due to the diversity of students’ background and assessment tasks within and across subjects, the HKEAA does not stipulate whether students should submit their SBA work in digital or non-digital forms to their teachers. Schools and teachers can follow their own policy and inform students of the task requirements.
- What are the guidelines for teachers assessing SBA to deal with cases of plagiarism? How can the bureau or HKEAA ensure the academic integrity of DSE candidates taking SBA?
The HKEAA provides guidelines and reference materials to schools and teachers concerning authentication of students’ SBA works and prevention of plagiarism, which are listed below:
l Handbook for School Leaders on SBA (Chapter 4):
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/SBA/HKDSE/SBAhandbook-SchoolLeaders-July2018-E.pdf
l SBA Teachers' Handbooks of individual subjects (Paragraph 3.3 and Chapter 6): www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/sba/sba_teachers_handbooks/
l The procedures and relevant documentations in handling SBA plagiarism cases:
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/SBA/sub_info_sba/P_Handling.html
l Student Declaration Form for SBA:
In order to strengthen the message to students about academic honesty and proper conduct in SBA, schools should ask their students to complete and sign a declaration form at the beginning of each school year in which SBA is undertaken to declare that all SBA tasks/assignments completed are their own and to agree to adhere to a code of honour in completing the SBA for all subjects. The declaration form is available on the HKEAA website:
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/SBA/sub_info_sba/P_Handling.html
l HKDSE Quality Assurance Framework (P.26-27):
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/Media/Leaflets/HKDSE_QA_A4booklet_Aug2016.pdf
l Information on School-based Assessment booklet:
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/Media/Leaflets/SBA_pamphlet_E_web_re.pdf
l SBA teacher conferences: Procedures on handling of plagiarism in SBA were explained to subject teachers in the SBA annual conferences for individual subjects.
- What procedures are in place to ensure the validity and reliability of the SBA assessment mainly conducted by the teachers of local schools? What percentages of SBA works are reviewed by external or independent assessors?
The HKEAA has procedures and guidelines in place for teachers’ reference in conducting the SBA. Quality assurance measures are adopted at different stages of the process to ensure the reliability and consistency of the assessment standards.
For details, please refer to:
l SBA Teachers' Handbooks of individual subjects (Chapter 2 - 4):
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/sba/sba_teachers_handbooks/
l HKDSE Quality Assurance Framework (P.23-27):
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/Media/Leaflets/HKDSE_QA_A4booklet_Aug2016.pdf
After submission of SBA scores in S6, all schools will submit samples of students’ work for review by SBA District Coordinators or assessors appointed by the HKEAA. Each school submits a prescribed number of samples of students’ work. In general, six samples are chosen from each school by the HKEAA using a stratified random sampling technique. For schools where only a few students are studying a particular subject, the work from all students has to be submitted.
Please refer to the Moderation of SBA Scores in the HKDSE Booklet for details (p.9):
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/Media/Leaflets/HKDSE_SBA_A4booklet_Mar2018.pdf
- How can the assessment standards across different schools be moderated to minimize cross-school differences and ensure fairness for all DSE school candidates?
To align the assessment standards across schools, the HKEAA has procedures and guidelines in place for teachers’ reference in conducting the SBA. Details can be found in the SBA Teachers' Handbooks of individual subjects:
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/sba/sba_teachers_handbooks/
After the submission of SBA marks, the HKEAA also moderates SBA marks submitted by different schools to ensure the comparability of SBA scores across schools.
There are mainly two methods adopted by the HKEAA: Statistical Moderation and Moderation by Expert Judgment. Please refer to the Moderation of SBA Scores in the HKDSE Booklet for details:
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/Media/Leaflets/HKDSE_SBA_A4booklet_Mar2018.pdf
- What is the amount of workload for local schoolteachers assessing SBA work of English Language? What financial resources have been allocated to compensate for teachers assessing SBA works of this subject? Please also provide the workload (no of hours of markers) of assessing DSE English paper 1, paper 2 and paper 3 and the financial cost of hiring the markers for the purposes of comparison.
SBA is part of learning and teaching in schools and is integrated in the normal classroom activities, such as English Language teaching and training of speaking skills. The HKEAA does not pay teachers for conducting SBA. The HKEAA does not collect information regarding the workload of local teachers on assessing SBA of English Language, thus cannot provide such information.
For marking HKDSE English Language Papers 1 to 3, we do not calculate the number of hours of markers in marking the scripts. The financial cost of marking English Language Papers 1 to 3 for 2020 HKDSE are as follows:
l Paper 1: $21 per candidate’s script
l Paper 2: $31.5 per candidate’s script (double-marked paper)
l Paper 3: $47.6 per candidate’s script
Please contact Miss Tse on 3628 8807 if you have any questions.
Regards,
Access to Information Officer
Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority
----- Forwarded by Suki SK CHEUK/EDB/HKSARG on 2020/05/13
上午 10:03 -----
From: Simon H WANG <simo...@hkbu.edu.hk>
To: edb...@edb.gov.hk
Date: 09/05/20 13:36
Subject: Questions about HKDSE, SBA and university admission system
Dear Sir/Madam
It is a relief to learn that HKDSE exams have been operated smoothly amid coronavirus outbreak despite the postponement. Nevertheless, the public health
crisis underscores issues related to the exams that require further discussion between the government and members of the public. Here are the questions for the Bureau to answer under the Code on Access to Information that would inform such discussion.
1- Has the Bureau developed a plan for local college-bound students to apply for local universities in case DSE exams have to be cancelled? The news report is relevant
to the question: https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3078193/coronavirus-hong-kong-education-officials-mulling-backup
2- If such plan has been developed or attempts had been made to develop the plan, please briefly discuss the plan including the guiding principles, the people involved
in developing the plan and how the plan will be carried out. Even if the details of the plan cannot be disclosed, please at least let us know the guiding principles and who are involved.
3- What are the main differences in the ways how local students and international students are admitted to universities in Hong Kong through JUPAS and non-JUPAS
admission schemes?
4- What are the Education Bureau’s views on how the differences in Q3 would influence the ways students receive their education at the secondary level? Please refer
us to relevant documents that are available.
5- Given the government’s investment and commitment to eLearning, does the bureau plan to digitalize SBA, i.e. let students submit their SBA work in digital forms?
6- What are the guidelines for teachers assessing SBA to deal with cases of plagiarism? How can the bureau or HKEAA ensure the academic integrity of DSE candidates
taking SBA?
7- What procedures are in place to ensure the validity and reliability of the SBA assessment mainly conducted by the teachers of local schools? What percentages
of SBA works are reviewed by external or independent assessors?
8- How can the assessment standards across different schools be moderated to minimize cross-school differences and ensure fairness for all DSE school candidates?
9- What is the amount of workload for local schoolteachers assessing SBA work of English Language? What financial resources have been allocated to compensate for
teachers assessing SBA works of this subject? Please also provide the workload (no of hours of markers) of assessing DSE English paper 1, paper 2 and paper 3 and the financial cost of hiring the markers for the purposes of comparison.
Please also notice the following statement about our expectations of how this request should be handled.
While we appreciate the government’s efforts to maintain transparency and accountability under the Code on Access to Information, we also notice considerable variation among different
departments and bureaux in their responses to our Code on Access to Information applications. We would appreciate it if your department/bureau could maintain professional standards when answering our inquiries. Specifically, we expect answers to each and every
one of our questions separately rather than an answer without clearly indicating which questions were addressed. In case of referencing to websites or documents, we need the specific paragraphs in the source texts that are relevant to our questions to be
highlighted. If no information is available regarding some of our questions, please indicate that is the case explicitly so we can follow up properly. We will definitely ask our case to be reviewed by a more senior official in your department/bureau if our
request is not properly handled. If it is believed that other department/bureau may possess information we request, please feel free to forward the request including our personal information.
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Yours sincerely
Simon Wang, Ph.D.
Lecturer
Language Centre
Hong Kong Baptist University
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
http://lc.hkbu.edu.hk/staff_simon.php
Writing for the Public Project
https://sites.google.com/a/hkbu.edu.hk/write4public/home
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In addition, the University specifically denies any responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through University E-mail Facilities. Any views and opinions expressed in the email(s) are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the University. The University accepts no liability whatsoever for any losses or damages that may be incurred or caused to any party as a result of the use of such information.
Simon H WANG
From: Access to Information Officer <at...@hkeaa.edu.hk>
Date: Fri, 29 May 2020 at 15:25
Subject: FW: [Referral from EDB] Questions about HKDSE, SBA and university admission system
To: simo...@hkbu.edu.hk <simo...@hkbu.edu.hk>
Cc: Tse Ka Wing <ts...@hkeaa.edu.hk>
HKEAA Reference number: ATI2005005
Dear Simon Wang,
The Education Bureau forwarded Question 2 of your Access to Information requests to the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) for handling on 25 May 2020. Please find our reply as follows.
Considering the situation of COVID-19 infection, from late March to mid April, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) and the Education Bureau had consulted representatives of secondary schools and the tertiary education sector and developed a contingency plan in case the 2020 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) written examinations have to be further deferred or cancelled.
On 15 April 2020, the HKEAA announced that the HKDSE written examinations would commence on 24 April 2020 and introduced the contingency plan. In addition to fall-back examination timetable, it was also suggested that if the epidemic situation would not allow the examinations to take place in June, school candidates would be awarded predicted levels as their HKDSE results based on a set of school assessment results from their teachers and a level prediction model built upon past HKDSE results of candidates’ own schools.
Subsequently, the HKDSE written examinations had started on 24 April 2020 and completed on 25 May 2020 according to the latest examination timetable. In view of that, the HKEAA has introduced the HKDSE Predicted Level Study and a school briefing was held on 20 May 2020 to invite schools to submit their S6 students’ school assessment marks for the study. Please refer to the HKEAA website for details:
Please contact Miss Tse on 3628 8807 if you have any questions.
Regards,
Access to Information Officer
Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority
From: Access to Information Officer
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2020 1:54 PM