The facts on PEP mock exam
YOUR EDITORIAL of Thursday, November 22, 2018, at a minimum, betrays a lack of understanding of the issues surrounding the performance task mock exam of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) done in June 2018. It also, unfortunately, ascribed improper motive on the part of Education Minister Ruel Reid.
We wish to draw your attention to the following:
Having assumed office in March 2016, and briefing himself on the programme of work being undertaken by the ministry in the lead-up to the implementation of the PEP, it was Minister Reid who directed that a mock exam of the performance task be administered, as that was not a part of the previous plan of activities.
Grade Six Achievement Test results, over successive years, have generally indicated weakness on the part of our students in mathematics and science. The situation is no different at the level of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC). It stands to reason, therefore, that given the general trend in results and systemwide challenges with respect to science and mathematics, Minister Reid would have been aware of the likelihood of PEP mock exam results revealing gaps in critical thinking and a general weakness in mathematics and science.
The commissioning of the mock exam had everything to do with what was the technically and administratively appropriate thing to do, rather than any concern or preoccupation with optics and any criticism that could follow the results. In other words, if Senator Reid were being expedient as minister, as opposed to being faithful to technical and administrative procedure, he would not have insisted on a mock exam, knowing fully well that there was a likelihood of results indicative of weaknesses, which may be subject to sensationalism and gamesmanship.
The mock exam of the performance task component of PEP administered to the grade-five cohort, now in grade six, back in June 2018 was done to assess:
a) General readiness of the students in terms of students’ attempt and responses to the questions.
b) The general approach of the teachers in preparing the students, as well as the conduct of performance task.
MOCK EXAMS
The public should note that mock exams are administered primarily for internal, technical and administrative purposes, and would not generally involve the publication of results. Indeed, there is no customary practice of publicising mock exam results.
Contrary to the view that Minister Reid sought to “pump steroids” into the results and be disingenuous in reporting on the mock performance task at a press conference on October 3, 2018, it should be noted that in scoring the performance of students, standard met and standard nearly met were combined in our assessment matrix to report on satisfactory score as is documented in the revised framework for PEP.
Our assessment officers classify ‘standard met’ as scores at or above B+, and standard nearly met as scores in the C to B range. To further illustrate the point, we may consider how the ministry has typically reported results for CSEC and CAPE. That is, as opposed to disaggregating grades obtained by students, for example, ‘X’ number scored grade one, ‘Y’ number scored grade two and ‘Z’ number scored grade three, what is actually reported is the percentage/number of students who passed a given subject by virtue of obtaining a result in the range grade one to three.
I trust this helps in future analyses.