Discontinue Grade Four math test

Camella Buddo, Guest Columnist

At the University of Technology's graduation exercise 2011, their chancellor and former prime minister of Jamaica, Edward Seaga, raised concerns about primary-school education here. Mr Seaga expressed the view that the primary education system is robbing students of their childhood by placing too much emphasis on their preparation for and performance in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) and the Grade Four Literacy Test.

I share the sentiments Mr Seaga expressed, and to his list of tests, I would add the Grade four national test in mathematics, for reasons that I present later in this article.

Students in Jamaican primary schools are heavily assessed. On entering primary schools in grade one, they sit an inventory test to evaluate their knowledge and skills. At grade three, diagnostic tests in mathematics and language arts are given to assess, respectively, their numeracy skills and their abilities to read and write and understand standard English. At grade four, the General Achievement in Numeracy Test (GAIN) and the literacy test are administered, and the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) is administered at grade six for placement to secondary schools.

A crucial year

Grade four can be considered a crucial year for primary students. It is at this grade level that the students are introduced to discrete subjects in the curriculum. In the lower grades - grades one, two and three - an integrated programme of studies is outlined in the curriculum document.

Mathematics is included as a core subject in the primary and secondary curricula because it is recognised that by doing and learning mathematics, students develop the knowledge and skills they need to function effectively and advance in society. Every developing or developed country needs citizens who are mathematically competent and who are able to apply mathematical ideas, principles and procedures in real-world situations.

To what extent is the Jamaican educational system preparing mathematically competent students? Table 1 shows the data on students' performances in mathematics on the national tests and regional examination over the five-year period, 2006-2010.

It is noted that for each year and for each test and examination, the highest average score the students obtained was 57 per cent on GSAT in 2010, and students' performances on the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination were consistently low. These performances do not augur well for Jamaica and its national development. Primary mathematics is expected to lay the foundation for future learning of the subject, and to meet societal demands.

Revised in 1999

The mathematics curriculum that is currently taught in primary schools was revised in 1999 to include theoretical underpinnings that resonate with engaging students in interactive mathematics by: engaging in higher-level thinking; investigating mathematical situations; engaging in problem-solving; collaborating with classmates; and applying mathematical ideas in the real-world experiences of the students. The overall goal is facilitating students in having fun doing and learning mathematics. To what extent are such intents of the curriculum realised in the mathematics classes in Jamaican primary schools?

The findings of an evaluation research I conducted on teachers' classroom practices for teaching grade four (primary) mathematics indicated that primary teachers (inclusive of teachers at private preparatory schools or government-owned primary schools) operate within different contexts. The conflicts between the intended curriculum and the implemented (delivered) curriculum result from the many issues that emerge in the schools that significantly impact the teachers' classroom practices and, by extension, students' learning.

In the public primary schools, for example, the participating teachers in the study indicated that their abilities to engage students in interactive mathematics were curtailed by a number of factors. These factors included: (i) large class sizes; (ii) non-availability of appropriate resources or limited supply of appropriate resources; (iii) high percentages of non-readers or students who are reading below their grade level; (iv) curricular content and scope; and (v) inadequate physical infrastructure.

The participating primary teachers commonly taught to-the-test. In this regard, they assigned questions from past national tests for classwork, and they tried to cover, within a short period of time, the curriculum that is overloaded with mathematical topics and subtopics. The teachers usually explained procedures, gave examples on the board and then assigned similar exercises for the students to do. I refer to this instructional practice as the three Es of teaching.

Mathematics is the medium for developing numeracy, which may be defined as "having a facility with numbers in various contexts". It is a subject with abstract ideas that are not easy to conceptualise. In light of this, students should be provided with opportunities to: explore, manipulate objects, investigate, identify examples and non-examples, infer, discuss their findings, conjecture, guess and improve their guess, and defend their points of view, among other skills.

Not good practice

Within a year of being exposed to mathematics as a discrete subject, it certainly cannot be good practice to have the students sit a national mathematics test at the end of grade four. These nine- and 10-year-olds need to do and learn mathematics in a non-threatening and stress-free environment, not one that focuses on examinations, operates under time constraints for completing a syllabus, and creates anxiety for our students.

The test and examination results clearly indicate that the students in Jamaican schools are not performing at acceptable levels in mathematics. It is, therefore, necessary that the Ministry of Education and major stakeholders consider changes in primary mathematics education to facilitate the development of a solid foundation in mathematics by primary students. My suggestions for changes are as follows:

• Discontinue the Grade Four national test in mathematics.
• Revise the primary mathematics curriculum; focus on skill development and reduce the number of topics and subtopics.
• Train teachers for the interpretation and implementation of a revised curriculum as intended, by having them work closely with expert primary teachers.

Camella Buddo, PhD, is a lecturer of mathematics at the UWI, Mona. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and camella.buddo02@uwimona.edu.jm.

Key: GAIN - General Achievement in Numeracy; first offered in 2009

GSAT - Grade Six Achievement Test

GNAT- Grade Nine Achievement Test

CSEC - Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate