School-Based Assessment in Kenya: What It Is, How It Works and Why It Counts

Every project your child submits in Grade 7. Every practical task in Grade 8. Every oral presentation their teacher records. All of it is being accumulated into a score that contributes 20 percent of the number that places your child in a national school or a sub-county school at Grade 10. That is School-Based Assessment.

What School-Based Assessment Is

School-Based Assessment, known as SBA, is the continuous assessment component of Kenya's CBE system. Unlike KPSEA and KJSEA which are national examinations administered by KNEC on specific dates, SBA is conducted by your child's own teachers throughout the school year across Grades 7 and 8.

Key fact: SBA scores are uploaded to the KNEC Competency-Based Assessment portal by teachers at the end of each term. They are stored centrally and automatically included in the placement calculation at the end of Grade 9.

What SBA Includes

African children sitting on the ground in an outdoor learning session

SBA covers a range of assessment types across all nine learning areas. Teachers assess learners through multiple formats to build a complete picture of competency.

Assessment Type	Examples	Learning Areas
Written tasks	End-of-topic tests, structured questions, essays	All learning areas
Practical work	Science experiments, agriculture practicals, technical projects	Integrated Science, Agriculture, Pre-Technical Studies
Oral assessments	Presentations, debates, reading aloud, language tasks	English, Kiswahili
Projects	Research projects, community service tasks, creative portfolios	Social Studies, Creative Arts, Agriculture
Performance tasks	Sports assessments, music performances, art exhibitions	Creative Arts and Sports

How Much SBA Actually Counts

SBA contributes 20 percent of the final weighted placement score. For a learner competing for a C1 national school place, that 20 percent can be the difference between placement and missing out. The SBA component is fixed — it cannot be improved after Grade 8 ends. By the time your child sits KJSEA in Grade 9, the SBA score is already locked in.

Component	Weight	Can It Be Changed After?
KJSEA — Grade 9 national assessment	60%	No — one sitting
KPSEA — Grade 6 national assessment	20%	No — one sitting
SBA — Grades 7 and 8 combined	20%	No — locked after Grade 8 Term 3

How Teachers Mark and Upload SBA

Each subject teacher assesses learners using KNEC-provided rubrics that describe what each performance level looks like for that specific task. The teacher assigns a level — EE, ME, AE or BE — for each assessed task. At the end of each term, teachers upload these scores to the KNEC CBA portal. The scores are moderated at school level before submission.

Parents cannot see the uploaded scores directly, but you can ask your child's class teacher for a summary of SBA performance at any point during the year. Schools are required to share this information with parents on request.

What Parents Can Do Right Now

Treat every project and practical task as seriously as an exam — SBA tasks carry real placement weight

Ensure your child submits all SBA tasks on time — missing a task means a zero for that component

Ask the teacher at the start of each term what SBA tasks are coming — plan ahead for projects that need materials or time

Request a summary of your child's SBA scores from the class teacher each term — you have the right to this information

If your child is in Grade 7 now, you still have two full years to build a strong SBA record — start treating it seriously today

The Bottom Line

SBA is silent, steady and permanent. It accumulates across two full years and locks in before your child writes a single KJSEA paper. The parents who understand this in Grade 7 give their children a real advantage. The ones who find out in Grade 10 wish they had known sooner.