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(We have work to do, Barbados & St. Kitts/Nevis are well ahead of us)
Performances in CXC examinations
Wesley Barrett
Monday, October 08, 2007
The necessary preoccupation with the national elections and Hurricane Dean shielded the secondary schools from the usual bashing on the results or performances of students in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (C-SEC) examinations of the Caribbean Examinations Council this summer.
Wesley Barrett
Instead, much attention in the media has been given to individual good performances of students as schools released the names of their high performers. It is to be hoped that this will develop into a trend where positive performances are highlighted, instead of the "blame and shame". Sensitivity must be exercised, however.
For the government and other key stakeholders, the big picture of national performance should be studied and acted upon. In this article I share some of the information on the 2007 C-SEC results with the hope that the country will celebrate the relatively strong areas and devise plans and strategies to address the weak ones.
There will not be many surprises, but I urge a renewed resolve to tackle the perennial problem areas over the next few months. In particular, schools should be helped to address the areas of mathematics and English.
Perhaps it will help to set out in a table the performances of Jamaican students as well as those of some other Caribbean countries in a few subject areas. Regrettably, the data set for English for 2005 was not readily obtainable. From recall, the percentage success rate in respect of Jamaica was marginally better than the last two years.
The comparison to be made should be twofold. Jamaican students should be compared with themselves over time, but it will also be helpful if comparisons are made with other students elsewhere, mainly to investigate further if there are lessons to be learnt.
Percentage Success Rates in C-SEC English, Mathematics, Information Technology (Tech) Grades 1-3, 2005-2007)
Readers will do their own analysis, but what should jump out at them is the data set for mathematics for the Jamaican students.
The numbers really do not look good. It should be the objective of the schools and the government to make a strong attempt not only to reverse what appears to be a negative trend in the making, but to work towards a state where the performance of Jamaican students compares favourably with that of students of any other Caribbean country.
Given where we are now, it would be difficult to overtake the other countries in the short run, but it should not be a daunting task to overtake ourselves in 2008. It can be done and should be done not merely to demonstrate that we will not be stuck in reverse gear, but to exhibit that where there is a will there is a way. The competition and measure should first and foremost be against our past performance.
The performance of the students in information technology (technical aspects) seems encouraging and we should celebrate the improved performance this year. The performance in English is worrisome while we acknowledge that many students performed creditably. We are definitely lagging behind the two countries named.
If we view all the data elsewhere, we will see that there are other countries that are ahead of us as well, in terms of percentages, but our actual numbers are ahead. We need to have both number and percentage in the positive territory! In the sciences generally there were improved performances (50 per cent - 78 per cent), except in physics which had a success rate of 48 per cent.
Regarding the countries that outperform us, we may wish to inquire about factors such as -
the provision and use of learning materials to support the curriculum,
the teacher/pupil ratio,
the per capita allocation,
the emphasis on and use of information and communication technologies,
the level and intensity of ongoing in-service teacher training,
the standards at which the teachers perform,
the support of parents,
and not the least, the responsibility that students generally take for their own learning.
I would be surprised if these factors did not figure prominently in the success rates elsewhere.
What should we do? We should assess once more our rating on these factors in a clinical way and start to address them in a structured and coordinated way. None of the elements should be left behind, I would caution. I would offer once more that the "transformation plan" be reviewed with a view to placing less emphasis on new and additional structures such as additional regional offices, new agencies and authorities and generally more costly bureaucracies.
The focus in appearance and reality should be instruction, curriculum and assessment.
The tradition in Jamaica of driving reform by more and more silos of "management and administration" to the detriment of interfacing structures such as schools and classrooms, parent teachers' associations and parenting, early childhood education and career guidance has never proved effective.
We should as a matter of departure set high and achievable standards for students and teachers, develop curricula around the standards, provide more training for school staff and managers as a unit, engage the community in a more structured relationship with schools and provide a strong monitoring and quality assurance system at the interface. We would then be "good to go". Simply talking about "transformation" will not let it happen. Name and do the actions and transformation will become a reality!
We do not need all the structures proposed by the task force on education to increase the number of students who obtain more passes at higher grades. Tweak the systems we already have in place with creativity and a blend of old and new faces, and direct more resources at the school under the conditions stated here. We can then watch performance leap.
wesebar@yahoo.com
Performances in CXC examinations
Wesley Barrett
Monday, October 08, 2007
The necessary preoccupation with the national elections and Hurricane Dean shielded the secondary schools from the usual bashing on the results or performances of students in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (C-SEC) examinations of the Caribbean Examinations Council this summer.
Wesley Barrett
Instead, much attention in the media has been given to individual good performances of students as schools released the names of their high performers. It is to be hoped that this will develop into a trend where positive performances are highlighted, instead of the "blame and shame". Sensitivity must be exercised, however.
For the government and other key stakeholders, the big picture of national performance should be studied and acted upon. In this article I share some of the information on the 2007 C-SEC results with the hope that the country will celebrate the relatively strong areas and devise plans and strategies to address the weak ones.
There will not be many surprises, but I urge a renewed resolve to tackle the perennial problem areas over the next few months. In particular, schools should be helped to address the areas of mathematics and English.
Perhaps it will help to set out in a table the performances of Jamaican students as well as those of some other Caribbean countries in a few subject areas. Regrettably, the data set for English for 2005 was not readily obtainable. From recall, the percentage success rate in respect of Jamaica was marginally better than the last two years.
The comparison to be made should be twofold. Jamaican students should be compared with themselves over time, but it will also be helpful if comparisons are made with other students elsewhere, mainly to investigate further if there are lessons to be learnt.
Percentage Success Rates in C-SEC English, Mathematics, Information Technology (Tech) Grades 1-3, 2005-2007)
Readers will do their own analysis, but what should jump out at them is the data set for mathematics for the Jamaican students.
The numbers really do not look good. It should be the objective of the schools and the government to make a strong attempt not only to reverse what appears to be a negative trend in the making, but to work towards a state where the performance of Jamaican students compares favourably with that of students of any other Caribbean country.
Given where we are now, it would be difficult to overtake the other countries in the short run, but it should not be a daunting task to overtake ourselves in 2008. It can be done and should be done not merely to demonstrate that we will not be stuck in reverse gear, but to exhibit that where there is a will there is a way. The competition and measure should first and foremost be against our past performance.
The performance of the students in information technology (technical aspects) seems encouraging and we should celebrate the improved performance this year. The performance in English is worrisome while we acknowledge that many students performed creditably. We are definitely lagging behind the two countries named.
If we view all the data elsewhere, we will see that there are other countries that are ahead of us as well, in terms of percentages, but our actual numbers are ahead. We need to have both number and percentage in the positive territory! In the sciences generally there were improved performances (50 per cent - 78 per cent), except in physics which had a success rate of 48 per cent.
Regarding the countries that outperform us, we may wish to inquire about factors such as -
the provision and use of learning materials to support the curriculum,
the teacher/pupil ratio,
the per capita allocation,
the emphasis on and use of information and communication technologies,
the level and intensity of ongoing in-service teacher training,
the standards at which the teachers perform,
the support of parents,
and not the least, the responsibility that students generally take for their own learning.
I would be surprised if these factors did not figure prominently in the success rates elsewhere.
What should we do? We should assess once more our rating on these factors in a clinical way and start to address them in a structured and coordinated way. None of the elements should be left behind, I would caution. I would offer once more that the "transformation plan" be reviewed with a view to placing less emphasis on new and additional structures such as additional regional offices, new agencies and authorities and generally more costly bureaucracies.
The focus in appearance and reality should be instruction, curriculum and assessment.
The tradition in Jamaica of driving reform by more and more silos of "management and administration" to the detriment of interfacing structures such as schools and classrooms, parent teachers' associations and parenting, early childhood education and career guidance has never proved effective.
We should as a matter of departure set high and achievable standards for students and teachers, develop curricula around the standards, provide more training for school staff and managers as a unit, engage the community in a more structured relationship with schools and provide a strong monitoring and quality assurance system at the interface. We would then be "good to go". Simply talking about "transformation" will not let it happen. Name and do the actions and transformation will become a reality!
We do not need all the structures proposed by the task force on education to increase the number of students who obtain more passes at higher grades. Tweak the systems we already have in place with creativity and a blend of old and new faces, and direct more resources at the school under the conditions stated here. We can then watch performance leap.
wesebar@yahoo.com
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