First look at P.S.E. results is disappointing
If Standard Six students thought that taking the P.S.E. was a chore, those now grading the exam are echoing similar sentiments. News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams looked in on the process to see how things are going.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
Over five thousand Belizean students sat the Primary School Examination, P.S.E., on May seventh. Two weeks later a group of teachers are standardising the English paper II exam and the Mathematics; all in preparation for the actual marking on Friday.
Maude Hyde, head of the Quality Assurance and Development Services of the Ministry of Education, QUADS, says this new process ensures consistency and transparency.
Maude Hyde, Head, QUADS
“We bring in a team of teachers, experienced persons, who have been working in the field for quite some time. They come in, vet the scripts, where they are placed into categories, preparing them for the marking that will take place over the weekend. At that point we bring in a larger team of teachers, representing all the districts in the country and that’s where the actual marking, awarding scores would be given to the papers.”
The papers to be graded will be placed in six categories: excellent, proficient, adequate, inadequate, insufficient and poor.
QUADS consultant Dr. Corinth Lewis says the process, which begun two days ago, will climax this Friday.
Dr. Corinth Lewis, Consultant, QUADS
“We have two table leaders from this group. At each of the eight tables we will have in the actual full marking, and they will be assisted by the new group of teachers we are bringing in to put grades on the script.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Who are the teachers chosen? I suppose you have a pool that you usually chose from.”
Maude Hyde
“We do have a pool that we refer to, but in this exercise, because it’s a bit extended, and it’s during the week, we try to use retired teachers, who have had a wealth of experience in the area. We do use some classroom teachers, who can get the time to come in. So it’s a mix and we try to represent a range from across the country.”
And part of that mix is retired educator B. Kingston-Smith, who spent half a century teaching in the classroom. She says what she is marking is both interesting and disappointing.
B. Kingston-Smith, Retired Educator
“In order to be able to use language, one has to practice it. And I’m afraid that the bulk of our children are not given the opportunity to practice their language. Way back when grammar used to be taught. They were satisfied with the method, so instead of improving the method, to me it seems as though many schools have just cut out teaching of grammar.”
Dennis Thompson, Teacher, Holy Redeemer School
“Most of the scripts fall within the inadequate and adequate category, which to a great extent was not what I expected. Being that P.S.E. is in the second year now, and there has been a lot of coverage through you guys, I expected to see more. Sad to say there isn’t one reason why we can come to the conclusion of this. It’s many things in one, but there is a serious problem with grammar in the classroom.”
There has been a bit of improvement in the numbers, that’s according to Gilroy Middleton, who heads the Teacher Development Unit at QUADS.
Gilroy Middleton, Head, Teacher Dev. Unit, QUADS
“Some districts have improved in the area of commission and also in the area of interpreting tables because we notice that last year commission was an area that was very weak, and most of the students had difficulty with that. Also, interpretation of tables is a new concept in the teaching of mathematics, and there’s a specific problem on BTL charges in terms of standard and economic time, and we observed that a lot of the kids were able to answer that question. We notice that the integration gave them some problems. For example, they couldn’t figure out that England was a part of Europe. A lot of them had England in other countries.”
Lisa Clare teaches at St. Mary’s Anglican School. However, she spent the day marking P.S.E. English.
Lisa Clare, Teacher, St. Mary’s Anglican School
“We find that children basically misinterpreted what it is that they were supposed to do. That affected that score that they will eventually receive. A lot of spelling errors, and basically mechanics.”
Clare is also concerned about the schools where vocabulary is not being taught.
Lisa Clare
“I think that’s a crime. I think children should learn vocabulary and no child is too young to learn. The vocabulary and the exposure that children receive using vocabulary will eventually help them when they come to Standard Six have to write compositions. The good scripts that we get, we find children use a lot of vocabulary, spell well, and it is used in the correct context. The majority of the scripts are just basically simple language errors. The good scripts that we got, we found children using metaphors, similes, personification.”
Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
The results of the 2001 Primary School Examination are expected by mid June.
