School-Based Assessment being proposed for CXC math, English
published: Tuesday | August 31, 2004

By Petrina Francis, Education Reporter

WITH AN increasing number of students failing mathematics and English language at the CXC level, educators are debating whether to introduce the School-Based Assessment (SBA) in these subjects in an effort to improve students' performance.

Ruel Reid, president-elect of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), told The Gleaner recently that one of the issues that he will be pursuing next year when he is inaugurated as president of the Association, is an introduction of the School-Based Assessment (SBA) for mathematics and English language.

Mr. Reid said that not having SBA for mathematics and English is a disadvantage to the students. He believes that one cannot have SBAs for the other subjects and not for the core subjects. "It should be across the board," he stressed.

He noted that the introduction of a SBA is likely to contribute up to 20 per cent of a student's final grade, which would improve his or her results.

ADDITIONAL WORK

However, Howard Campbell, a CXC examiner and information technologist, does not support this view. He argues that teachers would view SBA as additional work and he does not believe that students would find themselves in a better position to pass the exams. He further argued that an introduction of the SBA would create more work for the examining body, as well as further increase fees as more people would be required to grade the papers.

In the meantime, Carl Christian, teacher of mathematics at the Education Clinic in Montego Bay, told The Gleaner that if empirical data show that students in other subject areas perform better when there is SBA, then he would be in favour of SBA for the core subjects.

He noted that in a contemporary and global environment, continual assessment is always encouraged and "we need to look at alternative assessment and performance instead of looking at standardised tests."

While acknowledging that an introduction of the SBA may improve performance, Curline Christie, principal of St. Andrew Technical High School, said that children are pressed with SBA from other subjects and this may be too burdensome for them.