The national grade average remains a D plus, a senior education official confirmed on Monday.
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education Veronica Owens pointed out that this was unchanged from 2005.
Education officials are expected to soon release the official results of national examinations taken by ninth and twelfth graders at the end of the 2005-2006 school year.
In the House of Assembly last week, Minister of Education Alfred Sears informed that he had reviewed the results of the 2006 exams and was pleased that Family Island schools like Andros had performed well, although he did not go into details.
The national average is widely viewed as an indication of the state of education in the country and education and other government officials have continued to express concerns about the D plus average, although a new education report said this must be put into perspective.
The report noted, however, that, “The national grade average will not increase until the academic problematic, instructional areas within the schools and the homes are rectified. Students achieving “A” grades will always be shadowed or clouded by students receiving “F” and “G” grades.”
The report pointed to the need for continuous public education on the 1992 grading scale versus the 1994 scale, now being used. The earlier scale operated on a five points letter grading scale, that is, A ﾖ F. In 1994, the eight points letter grading, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and U, was introduced.
It notes that in 1992 the letter grade “C” fell directly in the middle of the grade letter series. In 1994 the matter of determining the mean grade became more difficult to determine for the eight letters grade series, the report said.
As a result, it added, the middle of the eight letters grade series is made up or is a combination of the letter grades “E” and “D”.
“From this new letter grade series the letter grades E plus and D minus become the middle grades,” the report said. “ﾅHence, a student or a school receiving a “C” grade in 1992 is at the same level as that of a student or a school receiving E plus/ D minus in 1994.”
It added, “Citizensﾒ concerns or statements regarding the national grade being a “D” should not view this grade with disdain, but comparable to a “C plus/ B minus” grade on the 1992 grading scale; for it is simply the change of the grading system, and not that of poor students or school performance.”
The report said the 1994 grading scales allowed for the “true testing” of students at their various competency levels without reducing the quality of the examination.
The report, which was commissioned by Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education Veronica Owens, also raised concerns that all ninth graders are not mandated to take the Bahamas Junior Certificate Examinations.
It recommends that all schools must be mandated to present all students as candidates for the BJCs.
The report also recommends that schools with consistent conglomeration of their student population at the lower end of the performance scale should be targeted for workshop sessions in specific subject areas.
A similar report is expected soon on the BGCSE exams, according to Ms. Owens.
Data from the ministry show that after remaining at an overall grade of ﾑDﾒ for several years the national mean grade for the entire Bahamas in the 2005 BGCSE was a ﾑD plusﾒ.
The national mean grade for the 2005 BJC was a ﾑDﾒ.
“We would be less than honest if we were not to admit that we still have challenges,” Minister Sears told the Bahama Journal recently.
“We have too many of our students who are not performing at the grade level in basic areas of literacy and numeracy and we have insufficient persons with the competence in technical and vocational areas to meet the demand of our economy at this time.”
Minister Sears said notwithstanding the challenges which remain, he is confident that output from the nationﾒs educational system will continue to improve, especially now that ancillary matters are beginning to fall into place.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
