Macmillan Education has launched the ICAS programme for the Indian subcontinent. Currently 14,500 schools in over 20 countries participate in ICAS. Over 8.9 million students are being assessed under ICAS globally.
The program evaluates students across a wide spectrum of skills. It is an annual benchmark of learning progress and a powerful diagnostic tool that gives parents and teachers deep insight into the true capability of children – assessing their higher order thinking and problem-solving skills needed for success.
Starting from Class 2 going up to Class 12, the language skills tested include:
–reading for meaning in factual and literary texts
—syntax and vocabulary
–skills of observing and measuring
–interpreting and analysing data
–reasoning and problem solving
ICAS’s diagnostic reports
–Track educational performance
–Obtain an independent external view of how a child is performing – class wise, regionally and globally
–Pinpoint a child’s strengths
–Identify skill areas to be worked on, for remediation
–Record the response of a child to questions
ICAS does not assess how well students remember the content they have been taught. It assesses the specific skills needed for success in English, Mathematics, Science and Digital Technologies and related aspects that impact the future progress and potential performance of the studen.
ICAS provides insights into:
–Where individual students may need extra focus
–Performances across year levels, classes and other subgroups
–Strengths and weaknesses at a whole school, grade and class level
–Student performance in comparison to peers regionally and internationally
–Student development over time.
Yash Mehta, Director, Macmillan Education India said, “IACS helps to identify a student’s strength and weaknesses in specific skill areas, which can drive better targeting of teaching and improve learning.”
ICAS is an initiative by UNSW Global, a not-for-profit provider of education, assessment, and expertise services. It is wholly owned by The University of New South Wales, Australia, which ranks among the top 50 universities worldwide.
