CONTINUOUS MONITORING. Basic principle, “common core” subjects, new features, coefficients, calculation of grades… Here is the key information on continuous assessment in France.
The bac exams, which resume with philosophy and end in early July, represent only part of the famous diploma. Continuous assessment is indeed fully integrated into the baccalaureate now. Already convened during the last three sessions, but exceptionally, to respond to the consequences of the health crisis, it now accounts for 40% of the final mark.
Supposed to assess the disciplines of the common core in high school, continuous assessment will have experienced many adventures since the adoption of the reform of the baccalaureate, wanted by Jean-Michel Blanquer, in 2018. After the adjustments linked to the Covid, after the “Common Continuous Monitoring Assessments” (or E3C), then the “common evaluations” (EC), it is transformed from its initial form. In its final version, the calculation of a large part of the mark of baccalaureate candidates (30%) is done over two years or almost henceforth, on the averages of the first and final years, all without a dedicated test or exam. intermediate.
This total continuous control nevertheless takes up the spirit and the content of the E3C that the ministry initially wanted to establish with its reform of the baccalaureate. Starting with the subjects themselves: the continuous assessment makes it possible to evaluate each candidate for the baccalaureate in history-geography, compulsory modern languages (two in number), in PE, in general scientific education or in mathematics in technological path. A total of 5 subjects which count for coefficient 6 each over the two years of première and terminale (3 in première and 3 in terminale) and thus represent 30% of the mark of the baccalaureate. To obtain the total share of continuous control, which accounts for 40% of the baccalaureate resultone must also add one of the three specialty courses that pupils drop out of in première (coeff. 8 in première) and moral and civic education (coeff. 2).
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What is continuous examination for the baccalaureate?
If the final exams of the baccalaureate always take place in June, they are limited, since the baccalaureate reform, a philosophy test and a major oral exam for seniors, as well as the French baccalaureate test for first year students. Previously, in March (May for the 2022 baccalaureate due to the Covid crisis), specialty tests were also taken. The rest – a core common to all candidates or almost – is evaluated according to the continuous assessment and over the last two years of high school, that is to say the first and the final. The baccalaureate therefore now begins at the start of the first year of school.
The continuous assessment thus corresponds to 40% of the baccalaureate mark against 60% for the tests. For the government, the objective of continuous monitoring is to “promote the regularity of work and the progress of students” throughout the first and final year, to simplify the course and “to give high school students the means to project themselves to success in higher education.
What materials are covered by continuous monitoring?
First and final year students are therefore assessed on 5 subjects, constituting the famous “common core” and counting for 30% of the final mark of the baccalaureate. These 5 subjects depend in particular on the type of baccalaureate (general or technological) as well as the modern languages chosen by the candidate. Here is the list of materials:
- history geography
- modern languages A and B (2 subjects)
- physical education and sports (EPS)
- general science education
- technologically advanced mathematics
To arrive at the 40% of continuous control in the baccalaureate, it is necessary to add to these subjects the teaching of specialty abandoned in first and moral and civic education in first and final.
What’s new in continuous monitoring?
If originally the 40% of continuous control was established via the “E3C”, for “common evaluations of continuous control”, a relaxation was decided by the Ministry of Education following several proposals from the committee of monitoring of the baccalaureate reform. Absolute continuous control is now favored for the subjects concerned, as well as the autonomy of the heads of establishments to make the system “more flexible, supporting learning and conducted within the framework of the class”, specified the ministry in a statement dated June 2021.
Since 2022, the E3C tests have therefore been abolished and the continuous control is based solely on the “sole general average resulting from the annual averages of the final cycle school report cards”.
What are the coefficients for the common core subjects?
Any deletion induces a compensation. And as part of the second reform of the bac, the Ministry of Education has decided to assign coefficients to each subject of the common core to replace the marks normally provided by the intermediate tests. The ministry has credited modern languages A and B, history-geography, physical and sports education and science education for the general route or mathematics for the technological route of a factor 6i.e. a coefficient of 3 in première and 3 in terminale.
Specialty education followed only for one year responds to a coefficient 8, half as much as for the specialties studied during the last two years of high school and assessed by an exam this time. Finally, moral and civic education is credited with a lower coefficient, the ministry having opted for a factor 2i.e. a coefficient of 1 in première and 1 in terminale.
The marks of the continuous assessment are calculated from the average of the quarterly or semester averages of the student. All semesters of first and final count. For the EPS, the rating still passes through “certifying evaluations” provided for in the framework of the control during training (CCF).
The averages are established each term or each semester by the teachers and “approved by the class council” then “are sent to families in the quarterly or half-yearly bulletins, then entered in the school report”, specifies Eduscol who adds that they are designated by the term “annual numerical assessments”. In each subject, the annual average is validated during the last class council at the end of first and at the end of terminale. The annual average is rounded, in each subject, to the next tenth of a point.
Does continuous monitoring take options into account?
Up to 4 options can be presented for the baccalaureate, including 3 with a coefficient of 4. The objective: not to exceed a total of coefficients of 14. A candidate who would have added two options to the coefficient 4 and another to the coefficient 2 will thus be noted on a total coefficient of 110 instead of 100. If an option is added to the calculation, the principle of quarterly or half-yearly averages is again applied over one or two years. But beware, in the new version of the tray, there are no more “bonuses” thanks to the options: the marks are fully taken into account, and no longer only the points above 10 as was the case before the reform. In the event of a bad mark in the option, the overall mark in the baccalaureate will be impacted.