Poor CXC results require state of emergency

[Tilla]

published: Sunday | October 1, 2006, The Gleaner Company LTD.<DIV class=KonaBody>

Dr. Ralph Thompson, businessman and advocate for education reform, says a state of emergency should be declared in the education system, following the underperformance of some students in the 2006 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

According to Dr. Thompson, non-traditional high schools and technical high schools continue to perform poorly in mathematics and English language.

An analysis conducted by Dr. Thompson of the 2006 CSEC results has revealed that the pass rate for non-traditional high schools was 11 per cent for English language, down from 13 per cent in 2005, and four per cent for mathematics, the same as last year.

The pass rate for technical high schools was 19 per cent in English language, down from 23 per cent last year, and 10 per cent in mathematics, a decline from 11 per cent in 2005.

Traditional high schools saw a 62 per cent pass rate in English language, down from 67 per cent in 2005. There was a two per cent increase in mathematics, with 41 per cent of students gaining a pass of grades one to three.

"One can conclude that teachers, especially in the non-traditional secondary schools are 'doing their best' without having to surrender a demand that whoever is in charge of the system must stop using explanations as excuses, declare an education state of emergency and get on with making a new start," said Dr. Thompson in his annual review done for The Sunday Gleaner.

He added: "If there is not this sense of urgency, if the Government and JTA (Jamaica Teachers' Association) spin doctors continue to bob and weave, if the public continues to be 'samfied' with false statistics, will the CXC results for 2007 be as bad or worse than they are this year?"

"The present situation is a crying shame. For how much longer will it continue?"

To this end, Dr. Thompson suggested that more emphasis should be placed on:

Funding for early-childhood education, as this would improve the stream of students entering at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

"Finding a way to remove from the system the high proportion of lethargic, unqualified teachers, time servers who hide behind the ideological protection of the JTA." He argued that the "bad eggs" give the many excellent Jamaican teachers a bad name as they struggle against the odds.

Dr. Thompson suggested that more physical resources and improved infrastructure are needed, for the education system to function effectively.

Meanwhile, he harshly criticised the Ministry of Education and Youth for continuing to use what he described as a statistically-flawed method of announcing CSEC results.

"In the first place, the ministry lumps together the scores of the traditional secondary schools with those of the non-traditional secondary schools. Since the former are disproportionately better than the latter, this distorts the overall average for the better," he said.

Cohort

According to Dr. Thompson, the Education Ministry calculates the pass rate as a percentage of those sitting the English and mathematics examinations and not as a percentage of the total grade eleven cohort.

He noted that since each school principal has sole discretion as to how many students may sit the examinations and exercises this discretion differently from year to year, no 'like for like' comparisons are statistically possible either among Jamaican schools or with our Caribbean neighbours.</DIV>

[Tilla]

RE: Poor CXC results require state of emergency

So they talk about the results of non-traditional high schools and traditional high schools. Then there are the technical high schools. Why not break down the results into nontraditional technical high schools and traditional technical high schools too? During my time in schools there were six technical high schools in the island. These schools were started sometime around the early to mid 60s. In recent years the government has gone around witha magic wand and turned a number of secondary schools into high and technical high schools. These recent converts I am sure will need time into getting to the levels of the traditional high and traditional technical high schools.

It would be good to see the results of the former six technical high schools called out separately from the rest of new technical high schols. You would then be in a better position to see if the traditional technical high schools are underperforming or if their average is brought down by the recent converts.

[Rosa]

RE: Poor CXC results require state of emergency

Tilla, I am of the opinion myself that they should stop comparing the traditional high withthe upgraded ones. Reason are that (1) They dont get the best student from GSAT. (2) If they have a few bright ones they are bribed by away by the trad.high. (3) Some of the school dont get the best teachers who prefer the trad. high where behaviour is much better. So to compare them is bad and some of the new school are doing well these days. My only problem is they still focus on the stundents doing SSC instead of CXC. Only a few student fron these school does CXC.

[Tilla]

RE: Poor CXC results require state of emergency

So what is the point of calling these schools high schools, if they are not going to do CXC like everyone else? If they are making the change in these schools, they should change everything, not just the name.

[Mosiah]

RE: Poor CXC results require state of emergency

<DIV>

Tilla (10/1/2006)It would be good to see the results of the former six technical high schools called out separately from the rest of new technical high schols.

</DIV><DIV></DIV><DIV>What are "new technical" high schools? </DIV><DIV></DIV><DIV>Tilla, the article did look at the results for traditional, non-traditional and technical schools.</DIV>

[MdmeX]

RE: Poor CXC results require state of emergency

Rosa,

What is the SSS you referred to in your post. Is it an exam? Been away from the system for a long time, I know what the CXC is.

Thanks.

[Tilla]

RE: Poor CXC results require state of emergency

Mosiah (10/3/2006)<DIV>

Tilla (10/1/2006)It would be good to see the results of the former six technical high schools called out separately from the rest of new technical high schols.

</DIV><DIV></DIV><DIV>What are "new technical" high schools? </DIV><DIV></DIV><DIV>Tilla, the article did look at the results for traditional, non-traditional and technical schools.</DIV>

OK, since you missed my point. The non-traditional high schools were schools which were secondary schools before many were changed to high schools. In the same breath, they changed a number of secondary schools to technical high schools, so now you have Frome Technical High (former Frome Secondary) St Thomas Technical High (Formerly whatever was their name) etc etc. I am saying why not break out the six traditional techincal high schools (STETHS, Vere, Dinthill, Holmwood, STATHS and KTHS) and see how their results differ from the new converts? They way they have bundled the technical high schools together does not tell us if the older schools are performing better or if the new ones are bringing down the avarage. What if they had combined all high schools and not separate them into traditional and non-traditional. How would this affect the average of the high schools in general?

I am saying the process did not do justice to technical high schools as it bundled some of the poor performing schools in the same basket. THey can do better than that.

[Mosiah]

RE: Poor CXC results require state of emergency

Got yuh! I could not come up with the new tech schools.

[Jawge]

RE: Poor CXC results require state of emergency

What really concerns me, is the fact that teachers are

allowed to deny students the right to sit these exams. I could understand if the teachers were paying for these students out of their own pockets. We then wonder why our young men are so violent. Listen to their music and it will shed some light. It's small wonder why JA lacks creativity among the youth, we simply stifle them and tell them they are no good. Here in the states you sit which ever exam as many times you want. I had relative who I told was not ready for AP math. guess what? The teachers allowed her to sit the exam. I would be one upset parent if my child was toldbya teacherthat he/she could not do a particular subject. Why should they play God? Let the student take the exam and see where their strength or weakness lies. Oh I forgot; it's all about bragging rights, to see which school gets the most passes. For once JA please look at the big picture. I see a student that was doing sewing at the community college in mobay, this same student's picture is now in the science buliding of a renown college (with some top Professors), this student is cited with honours and is now going for a phd. in microbiology. I knew this student from primary school. Ja please wake up and see the big picture.

Bob: Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds....

Quote: who God bless let no man curse. Ah gone

[MdmeX]

RE: Poor CXC results require state of emergency

King Jawge

Before you go back to the Cave, thisupcoming Phd candidatedeserves Hon. Mention - so why we can't have her name and her picture (since picture hanging on the wall in College). How yuh a gwan so, she nice like DM?

[Jawge]

RE: Poor CXC results require state of emergency

Well that is true but I don't know if she

wants to make herself public. I had her number (will look it up and ask permission). The last time I saw her was about five years ago. So I know she has her phd. and she told me that afterwards she wanted to go to Med school. Believe me, when I saw her picture in the gallery my mouth came wide open (to be there is no easy feat, it means you must be working on some top notch research for the country) I remember when she would seek help from the engineering guys with her math. I have a deep respect for her, futhermore yuh know how some ah di jakan naga dem stay. Dem luv mine people bizniz an quick fi tear peeple down. Dis woman werk too hard fi mi go put up har name den bad remarks go pass bout har. Is nuff yardie up here get successful (go harvard and other IVY league) but dem hold it down because dem background humble or when dem did deh ah yaad dem wasn't seen as di brightest. They even go on to be top executives and still don't even mek nize pon di rock (mi know some by name) mi mean major corporations to yuh know. Nuff ah dem children a top exec. to but because dem speak american nuff people nuh know say dem is jakan heritage. When mi did start school mi know two sisters (friends of the family) one had full scholarship to Princeton and the other for yale. Di princeton one come out an was writing fi cosby show (masters) Di yale one fluent in Russian and other language (MBA to) was a big corp exec. in di city (parents are jakan from KGN).

It reallyamaze mihow some jakan leff yaad an come here an nuh waan open dem mind an get enlightened, is di same tenament yaad mentality dem come here on ah operate pon. Well di bible say: "in the abundance of water fools thirst".

Anyway har family ah big architect a yaad (one did even do suppen fi mi daddy an him likkle cabin) mi even see one ah di family name in di papers. Oh mi wouldn't really put har up against DM because as mi say mi neva see no woman dat pretty a study engineering. Imagine di first day ah class (say electromagnetics) an mi see DM. Okay man map out whey she sit next class everbody kind ah position near har LOL, mi wouldn't learn darn ting . Is mostly man study dem tings an di few women nat even too look like woman so yuh nuh pay dem nuh mine. Ah yaad pretty girl wi do dem subject deh not here.