PEP students struggled in math, did better in language arts | Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

About half of the students who sat the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) did poorly in mathematics, but the majority of them scored better in language arts, a summary of the assessment results released on Friday showed.

According to the results, 50.8 per cent of the students were proficient or highly proficient in mathematics, while the other 49.2 per cent were deemed as beginning or developing in their achievement.

The scores were better in language arts, with 77.1 per cent listed as proficient or highly proficient, with the remaining 22.9 per cent said to be at the beginning or developing level.

The PEP assessments, which replaced the Grade Six Achievement Test a few years ago, are mainly used to place students in public secondary schools. Students who score highly in PEP are more likely to be placed in the schools of their choice.

Concerning the other subject areas, 53.8 per cent of the students were proficient or highly proficient in science, while 53.3 per cent were proficient or highly proficient in social studies.

However, Education Minister Fayval Williams cautioned against comparing this year’s results with those of previous years, because some components of the PEP assessment were not done because of time lost due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She also said adjustments had to be made to the curriculum content of the assessment, which comprises mathematics, social studies, science, and language arts.

“Because of this, it is difficult to compare the results of PEP over the years, because the results varied due to the impact of the pandemic,” Minister Williams said at a press conference to announce the results on Friday.

She noted that while the PEP assessments were meant to be administered over three years from grades four to six, the results were compiled on the grade six assessments only.

She also noted that the cohort of students was only able to sit two of the three components of the grade six PEP assessment, namely the ability test in March and the curriculum-based test in April.

Some 36,078 students – 18,495 boys and 17,583 girls – were registered for the assessment in 1,054 examination centres islandwide. Approximately two per cent of students were absent and did not sit the assessment.

Eighty-seven per cent of the students were placed in one of the top five schools of their choice, with another 13 per cent being placed in a school close to their homes or their primary level school.

Girls again performed better than boys in the exam. For example, in mathematics, 45.2 per cent of boys were proficient or highly proficient, compared to 56.6 per cent of the girls.

The Ministry of Education said the PEP results had several benefits, including more regular monitoring of students’ achievement and providing more opportunities for teachers to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses and, therefore, plan lessons to meet students’ specific needs.

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