Unfair school comparisons?
published:
Sunday | May 18, 2008
The analysis of the CXC-CSEC examinations compiled by Dr Ralph Thompson and now Bill Johnson, which were published in The Gleaner recently, has highlighted the disparity between the results of the upgraded high schools and the traditional high schools. People complain that the upgraded schools are no good and that they are not producing good enough CSEC results. One writer to The Gleaner suggested that principals of such schools should be ashamed of themselves. The question is, with all the views and judgements being spouted about these results, are we really aware of what is happening in many of these schools?
This article focuses on the results of interviews with the principals of three 'upgraded' high schools - Cynthia Peart of Papine, Angela Chaplain of Vauxhall, and Claney Barnett of Haile Selassie. The interviews focused on the communities that these schools serve, the GSAT grades of the students whom they receive, the academic and social challenges that the schools face with these students, and the interventions implemented to address these challenges.
First, however, I need to look at the history of the upgraded high schools.
Wesley Barrett, retired chief education officer in the Ministry of Education, wrote an article published in The Observer in response to the cry for the principals to be ashamed, entitled, "Don't try to shame them, help them." He pointed out that the "new secondary schools" or upgraded high schools were developed to focus on vocational education. From the beginning, these schools received students who were not able to gain a space in the traditional high schools through the Common Entrance Examination.
Although the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) replaced the Common Entrance Examinations, it maintained one similarity: the GSAT was still used as a placement examination for high schools. In this regard, the upgraded high schools continued to receive those students who were performing below a satisfactory standard. In an attempt to remove the stigma attached to the new secondary schools, the Ministry of Education decided to name all secondary schools, apart from technical schools, high schools. It is general knowledge that some of these schools were changed from all-age to high schools without the infrastructural changes and additional resources required.
comparison began
Mr Barrett noted that immediately after this name change was made, the comparison of the results of the CXC-CSEC Examinations sat by the new high schools to the older high schools, began.
These three schools, Papine, Vauxhall and Haile Selassie high schools, were ranked, out of a total of 84 upgraded high school with the quality score being out of 100, in the Education 2020 feature published by The Gleaner on April 8, 2008. See Table 1 below.
All three schools receive some of their students from communities which include some of the most volatile areas in Kingston and St Andrew: Papine, from Mud Town, Land Lease and August Town; Vauxhall, from Rockfort, Mountain View, Central Kingston, Franklyn Town (areas such as Bryden Street and McIntyre Villas); Haile Selassie, from Payne Lands, Majesty Gardens and Waterhouse.
Many of us associate the names of these communities with violence and crime. The children who have been socialised in this atmosphere of fear and violence take with them the effects of this exposure to school. What are some of the observable effects?
When the shooting begins in some of these areas, the parents remove their children out of fear. This, in turn, affects the students' attendance. Children who do not attend classes regularly will not be exposed to the teaching that they need to get. In addition, when families in certain communities are targeted, they have to move with their children and this has an impact on the children's education.
The teachers are affected by shooting that occurs nearby and they become jittery and, therefore, they cannot focus on teaching in this kind of situation. One of these schools has no circumference wall and when violence erupts, it spills over into the school grounds.
Then, there are the attendant problems of students coming from sometimes warring communities and bringing the war into the school, as in the case of Haile Selassie some three weeks ago. Furthermore, when violence starts in places such as August Town, buses stop running, and so do the taxis. People cannot cross borders and, therefore, the children become traumatised and are unable to attend school.
aggressive behaviour
In all cases, the principals complain of the general aggressive, loud and violent behaviour of the students. Fights erupt either on the school compound or on the streets among students. These principals must deal with all of these anti-social behaviours. How can we expect children who operate in an atmosphere of fear and violence to learn as well as students whose environment is stable and peaceful? How can the principals change the reality of the violent communities from which their students come, when the police, the army and the Ministry of National Security cannot?
There are many other social challenges which these principals face in seeking to educate the students from these communities, such as the lack of parental presence and guidance in these children's lives; students registering months after school has begun; students without birth certificates; students sent to school without uniforms, shoes, lunch money or food; students coming to school with old wounds needing attention. In short, all the maladies associated with parental neglect.
This article cannot review all of the issues related to the students' inadequate social upbringing. The general consensus is, however, that the social issues have a great impact, the students' ability to perform at an academically acceptable standard.
INTERVENTIONS
The principals have made valiant attempts to address the effects of violence and social maladjustments in these students' lives. At Papine High, there are partnerships which have been built with the students and staff of both the University of Technology and the University of the West Indies to assist with behaviour-modification programmes. Psychology students and clinical psychologists participate in programmes to help students who have been identified as at risk. All students do guidance and counselling classes. There is also a dean of discipline in place. In addition, students who become difficult to handle are referred to the Ministry of Education's Programme for Alternative Student Support.
At Haile Selassie, the problems seem to require more personnel than is made available by the Ministry of Education. There is a social worker-guidance counsellor, but her hands are full and she is unable to manage the number of cases with which she is presented at any one time. In addition, there are two school resource officers working there. These officers have a presence in all school activities and have even started a cadet corps.
Many varied attempts have been made to address the social issues, such as bringing in representatives of the Registrar General's Department to register students so they can receive their birth certificates. In spite of doing this, however, some parents still do not turn up to make use of the offered opportunity.
Haile Selassie's principal, Claney Barnett, brings in a dental clinic to check the students, and also the Heart Foundation. This is in an attempt to address the students' health issues. She has also used the Egg Project to teach students what it means to be a responsible parent. Under this programme, students are given an egg to represent a baby that they must take care of in order to show them how fragile a baby is and how difficult it is to care for one. She reported that for the three years that the programme was in place, there were no pregnancies among the students. Unfortunately, because of the lack of financial and human resources, the programme had to be discontinued and pregnancies have again become a feature of the students' lives.
The fees collected by the principal are startlingly inadequate to pay the utilities used by the school, much less to bring in paid human resources to address the needs of the students. The principal says she has become known for her begging. So, monies donated are deposited at Leder Mode and students who need shoes are taken there to be outfitted by the principal. The principal cooks cornmeal porridge on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the students who come in without breakfast in a personal attempt to alleviate the hunger of some of them.
The principal tells me a story of a boy to whom she had given a pair of shoes in grade nine and who is now in grade 11, coming to say, "Miss, you know is de same shoes dis? Guess what? A still wearing it."
At Vauxhall, the teachers work together to assist in the resocialisation of the students under their care. Parents are brought in as a part of the intervention to improve students' behaviour. At-risk students participate in the Success camps organised by the National Youth Service. In this camp, held during the summer, the students spend three weeks in training and rehabilitation. Sometimes students have had to be removed from the school, however.
grades not made public
As the GSAT grades are not made public in the same way the the CXC-CSEC results are, people might be wondering, what grades do the students who go to these schools achieve?
Haile Selassie receives students whose scores are generally below 20 per cent, with all scoring zero for communication tasks.
Papine receives students ranging between 40-50 per cent, with an upper range in the last two years of 60-65 per cent and a lower range below 30 per cent. The complaint from principal, Cynthia Peart is, however, that usually, the parents of those scoring at the upper end transfer these students to other schools. In addition, there are the students who enter the school through the GNAT - Grade Nine Achievement Test. Many of these students come in illiterate and innumerate.
Vauxhall receives students with averages between 55-65 per cent. Some 30 per cent of these students come in reading below the required level. To assist students who come in illiterate, special reading programmes are put in place.
The Ministry of Education provides a reading specialist in these schools. At Haile Selassie, more needs to be done because of the widespread need for remediation among the students. This, however, needs funding, which is lacking. In all the schools, more needs to be done in the area of numeracy. This is a general problem in Jamaica, the problem being that many of those teaching mathematics are not trained to teach the subject let alone to provide remediation to those who are challenged in this area.
The schools need to be given the assistance that they need to address the needs of the students sent to them. All these schools require special educators who are trained to deal with assessment and remediation of students who are academically challenged. It is unfair to expect schools to produce results without resources. In any comparison that is being done of the 'traditional' high schools and the upgraded high schools, all the variables need to be taken into consideration.
Students of Papine High School performing at the opening ceremony at the University of the West Indies Research Day on January 24 this year.
Barnett and Chaplain
Timar Jackson's story
Fortunately, in every situation, there is a light that shines, and the story of Timar Jackson provides one such light.
Timar entered Ardenne's sixth form in September 2006 from Vauxhall High. He had passed nine CSEC subjects with six distinctions and three credits. There are students in Ardenne's sixth form who had earned more distinctions at the CSEC level, but Timar outperformed them at the CAPE Level. In CAPE Unit 1, he earned four distinctions in pure mathematics, economics, accounting and communications studies. At the JAPSS National Awards ceremony he placed first islandwide in Accounting Unit 1 and second in Economics Unit 1.
Timar was born in Bull Bay, St Andrew, and has three older brothers and a younger sister. They were raised by their mother. Timar's brothers are all tradesmen. Only one of them completed high school. His sister is now in high school. Timar said that his mother told him that she wanted him to be something other than a tradesman and he had that in mind when he went to Vauxhall. Timar recounted that in grade seven, he was just an average student getting in the 60 per cent range. He faced challenges at school. There were many fights at school involving weapons. He recalls that he was robbed three times while at Vauxhall. The first time was very traumatic. It was while he was in first form. Men from the community held him up with knives while he was on his way home and robbed him. He did not want to go back to school but his mother told him that he had to learn to overcome his fear. She taught him strategies to deal with the community into which he was going.
When asked what motivated him to start achieving at a high level, he told of the strategy that his principal, Angela Chaplain, used: That of posting the grades of the top 10 students in each grade in the school. Timar said that in grade eight, he determined that his name would be on the list. That became his motivation. Timar did not only do well academically, but he also participated in rugby, cadets, speech and drama, and he did a stint in track and field.
Timar felt that his greatest challenge being at Vauxhall were the disadvantages that he faced because of the shift system. Classes were for 30 minutes each and the longest period allocated to a subject was two sessions. The teachers were not able to complete the syllabus because of the limited time. Timar said that he had to work on his own to ensure that he completed the syllabus. His mother could not afford extra lessons, therefore he had to read his books and study on his own.
He later gained entry into the highly competitive sixth form at Ardenne. He became a prefect and earned the respect of the school through his academic excellence and humble and calm demeanour.
top student
At the recent Sixth Form School-Leaving ceremony, he was named the top student in grade 13. Timar has already gained the Open Scholarship from the University of the West Indies to pursue his tertiary education there. He wants to be an economist or an accountant.
Timar has overcome the odds and he is achieving his goals despite his humble beginnings. His home and his school worked together to help him make his dreams come true.
He credits his motivation to his mother and his principal, Ms Chaplain.
It can happen, but parents and teachers must work together; the community and school must work together. When is the Government going to begin to hold parents, and not just the schools, responsible for their children's performance?
Esther Tyson is principal of Ardenne High School, St Andrew. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.
