KJSEA and School-Based Assessment: The Grade 7–8 Records Your School Needs on File
Written by EduCore Team · Nairobi, Kenya ·
A fifth of a learner's KJSEA score is decided before Grade 9 begins, in the school-based assessments of Grades 7 and 8. Most of the attention goes to the exam. This is about the part that is easy to lose: what the SBA actually is, who uploads it, and what your school should be able to produce if anyone asks.
Where the 20% comes from
As the Ministry of Education has explained it, a KJSEA score is 60% the Grade 9 assessment itself, 20% the learner's Grade 6 KPSEA result, and 20% school-based assessment from Grades 7 and 8. Press reports of KNEC's guidance describe that last 20% as 10% from each year. The composite then feeds senior school placement.
The point for a school: two of the three parts are already in the past by the time Grade 9 starts. The Grade 7 and 8 scores are the only part the school controls, and the only part it can get wrong through record-keeping rather than teaching.
The SBA is KNEC's task, not your report card
Under KNEC's 2026 guidelines for Grade 3, 7 and 8 projects and performance tasks, KNEC puts the tasks on its CBA portal. The headteacher logs in, the school administers the tasks, subject teachers score learners as they work using KNEC's scoring guidelines, and the scores for every learner are uploaded within the stated timeframe.
That is a different record from the class tests, portfolios and termly report cards a school keeps for its own purposes. Those matter to learners and parents, but they are not what KNEC adds up for the 20%. Schools that treat the two as one tend to find out at the wrong moment: KNEC's 2026 KJSEA registration circular has heads confirming, when they register candidates, that Grade 7 and 8 SBA scores are uploaded in every learning area for every one of them.
Four things a school should be able to produce
KNEC asks heads of institution to keep all records and evidence generated from these assessments. In practice:
A scoring sheet per learner, per task
The marks or levels each learner received against KNEC's scoring guide, with the teacher who scored and the date.
The evidence behind the score
Photos, scanned work or a short record of what the learner produced. KNEC asks heads to keep it; it is what you point to if a score is questioned.
Your own copy of what you uploaded
A dated export or screenshot of the scores as submitted, so you can compare it with what the portal shows later.
The deadline, written down early
Each circular sets its own dates. A late upload has cost schools money before, so put the date where more than one person will see it.
The gaps usually appear two years later
A Grade 7 score is entered by a teacher who later leaves, on a sheet that lives in a drawer. The learner transfers, the class is restructured, or the same marks are typed twice, once on paper and once into the portal, and one of them is wrong. None of that is visible until Grade 9 registration, when the head has to confirm every learner's Grade 7 and 8 scores are in, and reconstructing them from memory is no longer an option.
Deadlines carry a cost as well. In its 2026 circular for KJSEA projects, KNEC set a penalty of KSh 500 per candidate for uploads after the deadline. For a Grade 9 class of a hundred learners, that is a real number for a small school.
The fix is unglamorous: record each score once, at the time it is given, in one place attached to the learner and not to a teacher's file, and work from that copy when you upload.
What it does, and what it deliberately doesn't
EduCore keeps a learner's marks, competency ratings, rubric scores with per-criterion feedback, and attached evidence such as photos or scanned work on the learner's own record, and that record stays with the learner as they move up through the years. Marks and reports export to Excel or CSV, so the person entering scores on the KNEC portal can work from a single dated copy.
Under Integrations, the KNEC CBA section produces a clearly labelled provisional export whose columns your team can rename and reorder, and lets school staff enter KNEC assessment windows, with a link to the circular they came from, so upcoming deadlines show up inside the app.
What it does not do: upload to KNEC. KNEC has not published a public API for submission, so the head of institution submits on cba.knec.ac.ke, and EduCore is not an official KNEC integration or approved by KNEC. Its job is to make sure the data you upload from is complete, in one place, and yours. Read our guide to CBC/CBE assessment for how the competency records themselves work.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Grade 7 and Grade 8 SBA count towards the KJSEA score?
As announced by the Ministry of Education, a learner's KJSEA score is built from 60% the Grade 9 KJSEA assessment, 20% the Grade 6 KPSEA, and 20% school-based assessment from Grades 7 and 8. Press reports of KNEC's guidance describe the 20% as 10% from each of the two years. Check the current KNEC circular for any changes.
Who uploads SBA scores to the KNEC portal?
KNEC's 2026 circular has headteachers logging into the CBA portal at cba.knec.ac.ke, where schools administer the tasks and upload the scores of all learners. Subject teachers assess learners as they do the tasks, scoring with the guidelines KNEC provides.
What records does KNEC expect a school to keep?
KNEC's circular asks heads of institution to keep all records and evidence generated from the assessments. For KJSEA projects, its 2026 circular also asks for a file of evidence on each candidate's project progress. In practice that means scoring sheets, work samples and the upload confirmation, kept per learner and per task.
Does EduCore upload SBA scores to KNEC for me?
No. KNEC has not published a public API for submission, so uploading is done by the school on cba.knec.ac.ke. EduCore keeps the learner records in one place and can produce a clearly labelled provisional export to work from when entering scores; it is not an official integration and does not claim any approval from KNEC.
Is school-based assessment the same as our termly CBC report card?
No. The SBA that counts toward KJSEA comes from tasks KNEC sets and schools administer and upload. Your own class assessments, portfolios and report cards are a separate record. They matter for learners and parents, but they are not what KNEC adds up for the 20%.
EduCore is not affiliated with KNEC or the Ministry of Education. Dates, weightings and procedures change between circulars, so confirm details against KNEC's current publications at knec.ac.ke before relying on them.
See a learner's records in one place.
A demo is built around your school's own classes and assessments, not a generic product tour.