South Africa's rich multicultural society is reflected by 11 official languages. The

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This non-experimental, exploratory and descriptive study, using a qualitative case study approach, aims to investigate whether there is evidence of variance in the quality of school-based assessment (SBA) in Grade 9 mathematics. Participants were purposefully selected from five schools in a district in the Northern Cape in South Africa. After questionnaires were completed, individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from the participating schools. Documents were collected and analysed to corroborate or contradict data from the questionnaires and interviews. Lack of adherence to policy, variation in classroom practice and inconsistent monitoring and moderation practices were identified as themes of possible sources of variation in SBA. An analysis of the interviews and document analysis revealed that most of the Heads of Department and principals lacked in-depth knowledge and understanding of their roles and functions in making SBA reliable, credible and valid. This was not only due to a lack of capacity to perform such functions, but was also due to a lack of effective induction and training by the district and provincial offices. Findings from the current study point to the necessary role that a periodic evaluation of SBA may play to ensure its effectiveness, credibility and reliability as part of successful assessment practices in a mostly developing context.

This study utilised regression methods to explain Grade 4 reading literacy achievement taking into account discrepancies between the language of the test and home language for learners who participated in the South African preProgress in International Reading Literacy Study (prePIRLS) 2011. Grade 4 learners were tested across all 11 official languages. The language of testing did not always coincide with the learner’s home language; therefore, prePIRLS 2011 test results reveal achievement for learners who in many cases did the test in a second or third language. Results from the current analyses show that testing in African languages predicts significantly lower results as compared to English, but that exponentially worse results by as much as 0.29 points lower of a standard deviation can be expected when the African language of the test did not coincide with the learners’ home language. Findings from the current study provide evidence that African children stand to be disadvantaged the most when a strong mother tongue base has not been developed and when education for children between Grade 1 and 3 is only available through a medium of instruction other than the mother tongue. Evidence that exposure to a language that at least shares linguistic similarities to the home language could have a positive effect.