The results of the National Diagnostic Test administered to Grade 2 and 4 students in June 2023 have shown that students at the higher Grade level performed better at English and worse in Mathematics than the lower-level students.
According to Education Minister, Curtis King, it was the intention of officials within his ministry to analyse the results of these tests and will work through the curriculum to examine what interventions might be required at the various school levels.
King, in response to a question about the Diagnostic Tests from Parliamentary Representative for the Southern Grenadines, Terrence Ollivierre in the last Sitting of Parliament said that the Grade 2 and 4 national tests were diagnostic in nature and that they were designed to pinpoint areas of students’ weaknesses and strengths based on the specific learning objectives of the Grades 2 and 4 Mathematics and English curriculum.
“Hence, the focus of the data analysis on these tests is not to highlight the percentage passed in each subject area, but to identify weak areas within each subject that may require early intervention,” King explained.
And upon completion of the analysis of the test scores, the Ministry of Education, through the Curriculum and Development Unit devised plans and programs to address those areas that were observed to be weak areas in each subject.
The education minister further explained that when the report on the national test is generated, it is shared with the schools, and they are encouraged to further evaluate their performance as a school.
“And if there is need, create intervention plans and implement activities that will address the weaknesses identified with the hope if improving students’ outcomes,” King said.
He explained that the students’ performance was categorized into four performance levels from critical – the lowest: developing competence, competence, and mastery.
At the mastery level, King explained, students demonstrated competence and a comprehensive understanding of the knowledge, and skills outlined in the syllabus.
Based on data provided, King said that a total of 1,761 students at Grade 2 wrote the English Diagnostic Test and 1,754 the mathematics test.
Regarding Grade 4, there were 1,712 students who wrote English and 1,715 who wrote the mathematics.
The performance was as follows for Grade 2 English: 93 students demonstrated mastery, 467 were categorized as having competence; 559 students were categorized as developing competence and 642 students were categorized as critical.
Under Grade 2 Mathematics, the results were as follows: 267 performed at the mastery level; 590 at the competence level; 509 at the developing competence level and 388 at the critical level.
The results at the Grade 4 level for English was as follows: 123 students performed at the mastery level; 642 students performed at the competence level; 590 students performed at the developing competence level and 357 students performed at the critical level.
And for Grade 4 Mathematics: 30 students performed at the mastery level; 255 students performed at the competence level; 481 students performed at the developing competence level and 949 students performed at the critical level.
The results also revealed that Grade 2 students performed better at Mathematics than English in all the districts, and according to King while there was no disparity among student performances, students at District 12 (Northern Grenadines) and District 4 (Central Windward) performed better in Mathematics than the other districts throughout the country.
Students’ performance at Grade 4 was better in English than Mathematics with only two Districts showing more than half of its students performing at the competence and mastery levels.
King said that the overall performance in Mathematics was critical in all Districts with all of them showing less than 50 percent of their students operating at the competence and mastery levels.
“I have to reemphasize the point in these assessments, the emphasis is not so much on your performance at the subject level,” King said.
“What we are looking for are your weaknesses as it relates to the syllabus in both knowledge and skill so that you could do the intervention so that by the time they take these high stakes examination that they would be doing better,” he continued.
