The time of 'chaos' in certificates of merit in student rewards is over

Students have many opportunities to improve their scores.

According to the 2018 General Education Program, in addition to midterm and semester exam scores, students studying Literature will have 4 additional regular assessment points. Previously, grading was mainly through 15-minute tests and oral exams, but now it can be flexibly done through practical exercises such as group exercises, individual exercises, or if students perform well in a class, teachers can also encourage grading.

With this scoring method, teacher Nguyen Thi Giang - Literature teacher at Mai Hung Secondary School, Hoang Mai town has also made many changes in the way of evaluating students: I often give group homework so that students can prepare the lesson in advance. During the official class, each group can come up to answer questions and other groups will give feedback. Through this activity, students will develop their skills and teachers will evaluate and score students comprehensively.

Instead of only evaluating based on learning outcomes, Circular 22/2021/TT – BGDĐT stipulates that the evaluation of secondary school students according to the 2018 General Education Program is carried out by assessing training outcomes and evaluating students' learning outcomes. In particular, there are many different ways to evaluate students' learning outcomes by scores, not just simply through tests as before.

After 3 years of implementation at the high school level, teacher Dau Nguyen Hung - Math teacher - Boarding High School for Ethnic Minorities No. 2 said: We have many ways to evaluate students' learning outcomes, such as through classroom activities, through tests or through the learning process. In addition, we also regularly evaluate students' application of knowledge into practice to evaluate students' abilities.

For midterm and final exams, in addition to the tests given according to the exam matrix, according to the instructions of the Department and the Ministry, we will have a score through learning projects. The new assessment method, in my opinion, is positive and helps students improve their scores.

Reduce the "quantity" but "increase" the quality of rewards

Class 8C, headed by teacher Hoang Thi Hoai, is not a selective class at Long Lam Secondary School (Nam Dan). Therefore, in the previous school year, despite many efforts, no student in the class was classified as an excellent student.

Talking about this change, teacher Hoang Thi Hoai said: Previously, if students were classified according to the form of good - excellent, the rate of students receiving certificates of merit each year was up to 50 - 60%. However, according to the classification regulations of Circular 22, students are classified according to the form of good - fair - satisfactory - unsatisfactory and only students with an average score of 8 points or higher and at least 6 subjects with no less than 8 points are considered good academically, so the number of students achieving this result is very small. In fact, in my class, in the 2023 - 2024 school year, there were 3 students with an average score above 8 but 1 subject was below 8 points, so they were not awarded.

Across the school, teacher Nguyen Thi Phuoc Nhuan - Vice Principal of Long Lam Secondary School said that currently, the percentage of excellent students or higher in the school is only about 10 - 15% each year, the number of students achieving excellent results (from 9 points or higher) is very small.

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The new assessment method evaluates students during their training and based on their learning outcomes and comprehensively in all subjects, so the number of students who meet all criteria is not large.

The school also determined that students must be evaluated based on their true abilities and not on quantity. Only students who are truly qualified will be rewarded.

At Nghi Duc Secondary School (Vinh City), Principal Nguyen Viet Phuong also admitted that after changing the way students are evaluated according to Circular 22, the number of students receiving annual awards has decreased significantly from 70-75% to 20-25%. Although the results are much lower, after many years of working in management and looking at it objectively, Mr. Phuong believes that this is a positive sign.

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"As soon as Circular 22 was issued, we disseminated it to parents and students so that families could see the innovative spirit of this Circular. At the same time, we also let parents see that only truly good and excellent students will be rewarded. This may reduce the number of students, but on the contrary, it becomes a motivation for students to strive.

Those who are rewarded will see this as a worthy reward for their efforts and hard work. Those who are not qualified will have to try harder in both studying and training, avoiding the situation of only studying a few subjects for the 10th grade entrance exam. Instead, to be rewarded, students must study regularly and well in all subjects."

Teacher Nguyen Viet Phuong - Principal of Nghi Duc Secondary School (Vinh city)

The 2024-2025 school year is the fourth year of student assessment according to Circular 22. Thereby, the purpose is to determine the level of completion of training and learning tasks of students according to the requirements to be achieved as prescribed in the 2018 General Education Program.

In addition, the assessment of high school students according to Circular 22 also provides accurate and timely information for students to adjust their training and learning activities, and for educational managers and teachers to adjust their teaching and learning activities.

In Nghe An, after more than 3 years of implementing the assessment according to Circular 22, Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung - Head of Secondary Education Department - Department of Education and Training affirmed that the new assessment method has many optimal points to comprehensively assess students.

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Circular 22 evaluates students based on their abilities associated with each subject in the direction of recognizing students' progress.

Therefore, there are many scores (regular scores), students have many opportunities, many different forms to express and improve their scores, different from the fixed scoring method like previous tests.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung - Head of Secondary Education Department - Department of Education and Training

Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung also compared and showed that there are differences in the way of rewarding and giving certificates of merit to students according to Circular 22. That is, in the past, in the subjects of Math and Literature, the scores were often calculated with a coefficient of 2, other subjects were calculated with a coefficient of 1. But now, all subjects are calculated with the same coefficient and students are only rewarded when they are good students (average score above 8 and have at least 6 subjects above 8 points) and are considered excellent (if the average score is above 9 and has at least 6 subjects above 9 points or more). That creates equality between subjects, requiring students to develop evenly and comprehensively.

In addition, Circular 22 also has an open direction to reward students who have made progress and made "unexpected" efforts in some subjects. Thus, it is still timely to encourage and motivate students in accordance with the essence, but still avoid the situation of "chaos" or too many certificates of merit as before.