A CBC report card does not rank your child against the rest of the class — it shows how well they are meeting each strand of the curriculum, graded as Exceeding Expectations (EE), Meeting Expectations (ME), Approaching Expectations (AE) or Below Expectations (BE). The scores come from continuous assessment through the term, not a single end-of-term exam. This guide explains what every section of the report means and how schools produce these reports term after term.
The four achievement levels, explained
Under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), every strand in every learning area is graded on the same four-point scale. The level describes how far the learner has travelled toward the curriculum's expectation for that strand — not where they stand among their classmates.
| Level | Meaning | What it tells a parent |
|---|---|---|
| EE — Exceeding Expectations | The learner demonstrates the competency beyond the expected level | Comfortably ahead for this grade — challenge them further |
| ME — Meeting Expectations | The learner demonstrates the competency at the expected level | Right on track for this grade |
| AE — Approaching Expectations | The learner is developing the competency, but not yet at the expected level | Needs targeted support on this strand |
| BE — Below Expectations | The learner has not yet demonstrated the competency at grade level | Needs significant support and a learning plan |
The four CBC achievement levels used on Kenyan report cards for primary and junior school.
Where the scores come from
CBC assessment is continuous. Throughout the term, teachers record evidence of learning through observation, classwork, projects, assignments, practical tasks and periodic tests. These formative scores are combined with the end-of-term assessment to produce a strand score for each learning area. There is no position-in-class ranking on a CBC report card — a child who is 'ME' in Mathematics is not third from the top; they are meeting the standard for their grade, full stop.
Learning areas in junior school (Grades 7–9)
- English, Kiswahili, Mathematics and Integrated Science
- Social Studies and Pre-Technical Studies
- Agriculture & Nutrition, and Life Skills
- Creative Arts & Sports and Religious Education
Each of these is broken into strands and sub-strands. A report card typically shows a score per learning area, with the strand breakdown behind it — and that strand detail is exactly what a teacher or parent uses to see which competency a learner has nailed and which one needs work.
| Student | Quiz 1 | Mid-term | Quiz 2 | Final | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Malik | 85 | 91 | 88 | 93 | 89.3 |
| S. Reyes | 72 | 68 | 75 | 79 | 73.5 |
| L. Obi | 94 | 97 | 92 | 96 | 94.8 |
| E. Thornton | 61 | 58 | 64 | 67 | 62.5 |
What changed in 2026
January 2026 saw the first cohort of 1.13 million learners move from junior school into Grade 10 — the first full year of senior school under the new Competency Based Education structure. Below them, primary and junior school reporting continues on the strand-based CBC model described here, with the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) at Grade 6 and the junior school assessment at Grade 9 providing the national checkpoints. The language your school uses at the end of term — EE, ME, AE, BE — is the same language the national system uses.
1.13M
Pioneer Grade 10 cohort
First senior school class under CBE, Jan 2026
4
Achievement levels
EE, ME, AE, BE — used for every strand
2
Assessment layers
Continuous through-term + end-of-term
How teachers produce these reports without the spreadsheet chaos
The recurring pain in Kenyan schools is assembling a term-end report from marks scattered across notebooks, Excel files and memory. The sustainable approach is to set up the assessment structure once and let the system do the arithmetic.
- Set up your learning areas and strands once — they are the same every term.
- Enter marks into the grade book as assessments happen, so strand averages compute themselves.
- Generate the term-end report: strand scores, achievement levels and overall grade pulled automatically.
- Add the teacher's comment, review, and publish the report to the parent portal.
Explaining the levels to parents
For most parents, the shift from a 100-mark total to an achievement level takes one conversation. The key messages: there are no class ranks, a level is about meeting a curriculum standard, and AE or BE is information — it tells you where support is needed, not that the child is 'failing'.
- EE and ME are both positive results — the difference is only whether the child is ahead of or at the expected level
- AE means the child is progressing but needs more time or different support on that strand
- BE is the trigger for a learning support plan, not a punishment
- Ask the teacher for the strand breakdown — that is the detail that tells you exactly what to work on at home
A level is not a verdict
When a parent sees AE or BE, the worst thing a school can do is leave the family to interpret it alone. Attach a plain-language note from the teacher naming the two or three strands to work on and how the parent can help. That converts a scary-looking grade into a homework list — and it is what makes CBC reporting genuinely useful.
Pro Tip
Give each strand a small set of evidence as you teach — two or three class activities or assignments per strand per term is enough. When the evidence is captured as you go, the term-end report writes itself and no teacher is left reconstructing three months of marks on the last Friday.
The Bottom Line
A CBC report card is a map of what a child can do, written in the four-level language the whole system speaks. For teachers, the win is a term-end process that takes hours instead of days. For parents, the win is a report they can actually act on. Set the strands up once, record as you teach, and let the levels fall out of the evidence.