I am flabbergasted at the cavalier manner in which the Ministry of Education has gone about dismantling the secondary school placement system, of which the National Grade Six Assessment is but one element. So far as I am aware, outside of some contention about the examinations being too burdensome for parents, the ministry has not provided any rationale for its decision to go back to a system that was being criticised for decades before it was changed.
I have stayed away from involvement because although the idea of reforming the extant system had been in the pipeline years before, the reform was actually done under my watch as Minister of Education and I did not want imported into the discussion assumptions about the protection of legacy. But given what is now taking place, I believe that my intervention is necessary.
Before and during the period when the present system was being established, there were continuous engagements between the Ministry of Education and the public, which indicated what the former was attempting to achieve and why it was doing so, and addressed the fears attendant on the proposed changes. In order to provide an historical and conceptual perspective, before launching into a more detailed critique of the present approach and intent next week, here I provide extracts from a few of the ministry’s contemporary interventions.
Ministry of Education press release, 2006
The Ministry of Education would like to clarify some misconceptions which were expressed through the media to the public. More specifically Stabroek News’ editorial dated 27/01/06 captioned Educational Experimentation… Stakeholders were informed of the Ministry’s policy to reform the Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE) through several press releases and media appearances. It is, therefore, incorrect to state that this information was not made public. In fact, the first Press Release issued on this subject is dated 18/01/02. This was followed up by several other releases and television programmes, explaining the methods which will be used to assess pupils’ performance….
Minister of Education, Henry Jeffrey: Budget Speech, 2003
“The Ministry has negotiated the US$55m, Basic Education Management and Support arrangement with the Inter American Development Bank, which is intended to seriously tackle the problem of illiteracy and functional illiteracy. … “It is within this component that we have developed bench-mark assessments for levels 2, 4 and 6, which will also be temporarily used as a replacement for the SSEE.”
Director of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development: Primary School Assessment, 2006
Public comments and criticisms over the past several years of the one-shot Secondary School Entrance Examination about its fairness caused the Ministry of Education to take a hard look at it after considering some of the most recent practices in the wider Caribbean and the wider world. In consultations with experts, professionals and parents the Ministry was advised to adopt a new approach at primary school assessment.
In this new approach of assessment of primary education, continuous assessment forms the cornerstone of it. At the heart of continuous assessment is remediation. However, it also provides a measure of attainment of standards set for each grade. Prior to 2003 assessments were done annually at each grade but were not cumulative in providing a complete profile of the child’s primary school attainment.
In 2002 the Ministry took a decision to have national assessment at Grades 2, 4 and 6 and to have these scores aggregated in a weighted manner to provide a reliable measure of a child’s attainment at the primary level. This measure would be used to determine secondary school placement as a spin off from the process.
National Advisor on Testing and Assessment, 2005
… to provide access to quality secondary education to all primary school leavers and to quell the drop-out rate at secondary schools…Guyana has embarked on a new assessment system as one of the strategies to realize these goals. … There will be National Assessments at three key stages – Grades 2, 4 and 6 and there will be continuous classroom assessment. Placement at secondary school will no longer be based on a single examination at Grade 6. No longer will we place our children at a disadvantage by using a single score to assign them to Secondary schools. By using the scores acquired from the three grades to place students we are ensuring that they have a fairer chance at being assigned the school that is most suitable for them.
In addition, the continuous classroom assessments will ensure that most of their difficulties in learning are identified and corrected so that there would be improved performance. … According to the Education Policy Paper of Trinidad and Tobago, it is the lack of motivation caused by poor performance that is largely responsible for the high drop out rate and the many other problems encountered at secondary schools. They have also seen it fit to use the scores acquired from three National Examinations to place children at Secondary schools. …
Ministry of Education press release 2005
The Secondary School Entrance Examination will be written by pupils of Grade 6 on the 12th and 13th April 2006. This will bring the curtains down on SSSE, wherein a single examination at the end of the Primary level is used to place students at the secondary level…
Firstly, we aim to establish a national assessment program that focuses on monitoring the education quality and student performance throughout the primary grades, rather than to focus specially of placement through a single examination. Teachers will be doing continuous assessment, where they are expected to keep separate records for controlled assignments such as class tests and uncontrolled assignments such as home assignment and SBA’s.
Secondly, and with this structure of continuous assessments, the Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE) or Common Entrance will be replaced by three national assessments at Grades 2, 4 and 6. Like the SSEE, these assessments will be used for ranking students for placement at the secondary level but are also diagnostic providing opportunities for remedial interventions even in the early secondary years. …
We expect that this system will provide an additional incentive and focus for school managers, parents and teachers to seriously come on board much earlier than they now do. This is a fairer method of placement than the single Grade 6 SSEE. Of course, this new system of assessment and testing is not a magic wand; it requires worthwhile curriculum and effective classroom management, but if properly used this can be a powerful tool. The point here is not about assessment methods alone, but the importance of thinking through all the potential impacts of this reform…
henryjeffrey@yahoo.com
