The difference between an average student and a good one is often very little. The moment a few misunderstandings are cleared up, marks shoot up. Away from summative averages that simply classify, we provide visually clear and colour coded reports as below. They show the concepts in each subject a child is good in (green), fair / moderately good in (blue) and those he / she partially good in and that require some building up (red ).By sharing these details in a formative way, a child becomes an informed partner in his / her learning process. The goals are very clear and a child knows s/he is not just an average, that details matter, and that by brushing up on a few things, he / she can move from Concept in blue to green and from red to blue to green. Setting personal targets becomes easy. Children can better partner in their learning process, time-manage goals and self-monitor progress.

So, how do we interpret the formative reports for Child 1 and Child 2 from the same class above? Instead of focussing on the summative average, a GEMS Dynamic report highlights detail. On a quick review, we can see that Child 1 has more GREEN and less RED while Child 2 has more RED and less GREEN.

In the Class Report for Class IV A Mathematics (2 pages later), Child 1 Abhishek above got the best marks in mathematics at 85.6% while Child 2 Toshifa got the worst marks in her class at 47.1%. GEMS Personal Diagnostic and Formative Reports do not carry these averages though teachers know them. The focus for both Abhishek and Toshifa shifts therefore from comparison with others to improving their own topic wise performance by the time of the Progress Appraisal Survey. The reports provide a roadmap for improvement.

Combined with Go-GREEN Strategies which are personalised to every child’s needs, students engage in a process of perfection. They move from strength to strength and begin to compete with their own selves. Comparison with others becomes a thing of the past. Over time, the GEMS assessments create intrinsic desire to excel. A child feel’s “I can”. Even a little bit of GREEN in the report is a confidence builder for a child with a low average.