The results of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) written on May 03 and 04, 2023 were yesterday released to schools and there has been a significant improvement in the results for maths.
Fifteen thousand, two hundred and seventy-three candidates wrote this assessment.
The Ministry of Educa-tion has continued its collaboration with the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) to improve the quality of all national primary grade assessments. Teachers, subject specialists, and test development officers developed the test items with the technical guidance of the CXC, addressing key areas such as item construction, weighting of items, sampling and other psychometric elements. Candidates were tested in four subjects namely, Mathematics, English, Science and Social Studies. The examination in each subject area consisted of two papers. Paper One consisted of 40 multiple choice items while Paper Two consisted of essay type or open ended items.
Areas tested for each subject were: Mathematics – knowledge, algorithmic thinking, and reasoning; Science – knowledge, comprehension, and application; Social Studies – knowledge, conceptual understanding, use of knowledge; English Language – reading, comprehension and vocabulary: structure and mechanics; content, focus, language and organization.
The highest possible standardised scores obtainable were: Mathematics – 132.2; English – 124.7; Social Studies – 125.1; and Science – 125.7. The highest possible total score obtainable was 507.7.
Improved performances were recorded in Science and Mathematics at this year’s NGSA, CXC’s Teddy Rajan yesterday announced. Performances in English saw a marginal improvement while there was a slight decline in Social Studies performance.
Rajan, who is CXC’s Senior Manager of Exami-nations Administration and Security, said students performed well in Mathema-tics, showing a significant improvement in passes when compared to 2022. Mathematics performance stood at 39.87 per cent, when compared to 34.77 per cent in 2022.
“The performance of mathematics aligned better to 2020 over 2022. The reliability of the mathematics exams was assessed to be 0.91. A positive trend is shown is 2022 and 2023. In comparison 2023 shows a significant upward mobility in candidates obtaining full marks,” Rajan said.
The CXC official gave the synopsis of the NGSA results which were announced by the Ministry of Education yesterday at the Pegasus Suites exhibition room.
Since 2016, CXC has been contracted by the Government of Guyana to develop, administer, and mark the annual examination/assessment.
In his presentation, Rajan highlighted that female pupils continue to outperform males in every subject area.
For English, he stated that in 2023 there was a 64.47 per cent pass rate as against passes in 2022 which were recorded at 64 per cent. He added that the trend of attaining zero remained relatively flat over the last four years.
Turning his attention to Science, the CXC official stated that 55 per cent of students secured a score of 50 per cent or more passes in the subject when compared to 2022. According to the data presented, scores shifted upward from 46.45 per cent in 2022 to 55.11 per cent this year.
“…An upward trend is noted to 2023… the reliability of the exam needed to be 0.96 per cent. The performance in 2023 must be applauded as the mapping of zero scores has been reversed in a very significant way in 2023,” he disclosed. Rajan went on to state that 2023 is the first year in a four year period where more candidates attained full marks compared to zero marks in science.
Comparing the 2022 Social Studies performance to 2023, Rajan announced there was a dip by 0.3 per cent. Social Studies performance in 2022 was recorded at 58.9 per cent while 58.57 was recorded this year.
Some 15,273 pupils from the 11 educational districts wrote this year’s NGSA on May 3 and 4. Of this amount, 287 were Spanish-speaking students.
