Competency-Based Education (CBE, still called CBC in most staffrooms) changed what a "mark" means. Instead of one end-of-term exam score, teachers record what each learner can do in each learning area, judged against a rubric. That is better for learners, but it means more records, entered more often, by more people.
This guide covers how schools keep that workload manageable and get report cards out on time.
Understand the two scales you are working with
Most schools deal with two rubrics at once:
| Level | Primary (PP1 – Grade 6) | Junior School (Grade 7 – 9) |
|---|---|---|
| Exceeding expectations | EE | EE1 (8), EE2 (7) |
| Meeting expectations | ME | ME1 (6), ME2 (5) |
| Approaching expectations | AE | AE1 (4), AE2 (3) |
| Below expectations | BE | BE1 (2), BE2 (1) |
The junior-school scale splits each level in two, so it carries a number as well as a descriptor. Your system should store the level a teacher chose and show the matching descriptor on the report card. It should never ask teachers to convert between the two scales by hand.
KNEC updates its guidance from time to time. Always check the latest circulars before you set up a new assessment year.
Plan assessments at the start of the term, not the end
The biggest cause of late report cards is a scramble in the last two weeks. Agree three things in week one:
- Which assessments count. Name each one (for example "Integrated Science project", "Kiswahili oral", "Mid-term written") and decide which learning areas it covers.
- Who enters it and by when. One teacher per subject per stream, with a deadline a few days after the activity.
- What evidence is kept. A photo of a model, a short note or a scanned worksheet is enough for most strands.
When the plan lives in your school system rather than a spreadsheet on one teacher's laptop, deputies can see at a glance which classes are behind.
Enter marks while the activity is fresh
Teachers record far more accurately when they enter a level the same day, on a phone, than when they reconstruct a term's work from memory. Things that make same-day entry realistic:
- Mark entry that works on a phone, so teachers don't have to wait for the staffroom computer.
- Class lists that load already filtered to the teacher's own streams and subjects.
- Short descriptors on screen, so teachers can pick a level without opening the rubric document.
In Class Compass, teachers sign in with their own account and see only the classes and subjects assigned to them. Admins see every class's progress.
Turn records into report cards parents can read
A good CBC report card answers three questions for a parent:
- How is my child doing in each learning area? Show the level and the descriptor, not just a code.
- What do the teacher's comments say? Add a short comment for each learning area and a general remark from the class teacher.
- What happens next? Give the term dates, fee balance and any action needed from home.
Publishing report cards in the parent portal saves printing, and parents can open them on any phone. Print copies are still useful for learners whose parents rarely check messages. Most schools do both in the first year.
A simple checklist for the end of term
- Every learning area has at least one assessment entered for every learner.
- Missing entries are followed up by the deputy, not discovered on report day.
- Comments are reviewed for tone and spelling.
- Report cards are published to the parent portal and printed copies are ready for collection.
- The class results are exported and kept for the school's records.
CBC rewards schools that treat assessment as a steady weekly habit. The right tools make that habit easy, and the reports almost write themselves.