According to the data report for the academic year 2022-23 published by the Department of Education Services yesterday, March 28, 2024, a worrying percentage of public school students in years 4, 5 and 6 at the primary school level (otherwise known as “Key Stage 2”) failed to meet expected standards in grammar, reading, mathematics and writing. By the end of high school (“Key Stage 4”), less than half achieved the nationally expected standard of five or more Level 2 qualifications when English and Mathematics are included in the analysis of the results. (These Level 2 qualifications include, but are not limited to, the Caribbean Secondary Certificate of Education (CSEC), General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (iGCSE).)
Key Stage 2
To determine whether a student met the expected standard for Key Stage 2, “KS2 Standard Assessment Tests (SATS) were administered during the report period.”
The detailed results were as follows:
59% achieved the expected standard in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.43% achieved the expected standard in reading.41% achieved the expected standard in mathematics.46% achieved the expected standard in writing (teacher assessed and externally moderated).26% achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.
Framed differently, the data means that:
41% failed to achieve the expected standard in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.57% failed to achieve the expected standard in reading.59% failed to achieve the expected standard in mathematics.54% failed to achieve the expected standard in writing (teacher-assessed and externally moderated).74% failed to achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.
Key Stage 4
At the high school level (or “Key Stage 4”), the performance expectation is for “students [to] successfully achieve a minimum of five Level 2 qualifications, including proficiency in English and mathematics, by the conclusion of KS4.”
Again, these Level 2 qualifications include, but are not limited to, the Caribbean Secondary Certificate of Education (CSEC), General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (iGCSE).
For the academic year 2023, 67.8% of students achieved the nationally expected standard of 5 or more L2 qualifications, an increase from 54.5% in the 2022 academic year.
When this 2023 academic analysis is tweaked to focus on the percentage of students who also passed English and Mathematics, the data report states that “48.5% achieved the nationally expected standard of 5 or more L2 qualifications including English and mathematics.” This is up from 37.5% for the 2022 academic year.
Other information set out in the table below for academic year 2023 shows that 79.8% achieved an L2 qualification in the English Language, 52.3% achieved an L2 qualification in mathematics, 67.3% achieved an L2 qualification in science, and 42.3% passed seven or more L2 subjects (this figure falls to 38.5% when the question is whether English and math and are included in these seven or more passes).
According to the data report, students achieving seven or more Level 2 qualifications (including English and Mathematics) and therefore surpassing the national standard of five Level 2 qualifications are recognised as honour students. Students achieving nine or more Level 2 qualifications (including English and Mathematics) receive high honours.
Summary
Overall, the data report is troubling in that, at an early learning stage, Key Stage 2, about half of Key Stage 2 students failed to achieve the expected standard in grammar, punctuation, spelling, reading, mathematics and writing. If a low level of performance continues at this foundational level, then the future results of these students may be impacted.
To find a solution, stakeholders are encouraged to examine the reasons for low performance in Key Stage 2.
Where those Key Stage 2 reasons relate to the home environment, additional support could perhaps be provided to parents who want to see their children achieve new heights.
Where the reasons relate to the school environment, perhaps students and teachers could receive further support. Educational methods could also be analysed to determine what works well and what doesn’t for students at Key Stage 2.
Solutions are essential because the data report shows that, by the end of high school, i.e. Key Stage 4, only 48.5% achieved the nationally expected standard of five or more level 2 qualifications, including English and Mathematics.
Theoretically, this figure for Key Stage 4 could be higher if performance is improved at the early education levels.
Better results may also be achieved when Key Stage 4 students are offered additional support through counselling and after-school tutoring.
In addition, a cultural or other disconnect between teachers and students, which is not widely discussed or proven, may exist. This disconnect may impact the way Caymanian students are treated within the public school system, especially as they are a minority in the country’s population. If this disconnect can be proven, it could provide insight into the level of interest teachers have in teaching and the effectiveness of student learning in the public school system.
Lastly, stakeholders may wish to examine the basis for setting national “expected standards” for judging students’ performance. This is because some students might perform better in vocational subjects than in traditional subjects currently assessed for meeting expected standards.
If expected standards are modified, the objective should not be to make exams easier but to make what students study more relevant to what Cayman considers to be its pillar industries, which these students will eventually apply to enter upon graduation (having said that, Mathematics and English should always be included in the curriculum regardless of any modifications).
Whether or not one agrees with these observations, action must be taken now. The root causes of poor performance must be examined, and all stakeholders, including students, teachers, and parents, must be involved.
Readers who wish to examine the data report in full may access it on the below link:
https://www.gov.ky/publication-detail/data-report-2023
