The Terra Nova test results

In Friday’s Bermuda Sun, columnist Larry Burchall accused Bermuda’s teachers of dishonesty for attempting to boost scores in the annual Terra Nova tests by not submitting poorly performing students for them.

His claim was based on a full page advert in last Wednesday’s Royal Gazette, which showed the results of the Terra Nova tests over the last five years. There was one graph in this ad that clearly showed that as student participation fell, results improved.

While I agree that it seems dishonest to exclude students from the tests who might bring down the overall score, there can be good reasons for doing this. From what I understand, teachers will sometimes recommend to parents that underperforming children be held back a year; however, the parents can refuse to do this. As a result, certain year groups can contain children whose abilities are significantly below those of their classmates. A P3 class may contain a child who is still only reading at a P1 level. Teachers then have to decide whether to enter those children for exams that are way beyond them, which can often have a negative impact on those children's self-esteem.

If my perception is accurate (can any teachers here shed any light on this?), the solution might be to compel all pupils to sit the Terra Nova tests, but give schools the final say in which children are allowed to progress each year and which should be held back.

Comments

[Tiger Bay on 07.11.05 at 14:57]

I hate to say it, but I don't think anyone is surprised that the Ministry of Education would stoop to "cooking the books" to try and look better.

The whole idea of the Terra Nova exam is to generate statistics that can be compared to other school systems. If we are only sending the "smart kids" to take the test, it's hardly a fair comparison.

What's sad is that despite this "social engineering" our results did not improve dramatically.

And we still have less than a 50% graduation rate from high school.

[Rincewind on 08.11.05 at 20:50]

it is not necessarily the parents that don't want the child to advance a year. I know of at least 2 cases where the parents had to fight 'tooth and nail' to get their children held back a year.

As to the Terra Nova, my understanding was that it is compulsory, at least it was a couple of years ago. A childs ability to read or inability does not prohibit them from taking the test, they have the test read to them and their answers are filled in for them.

[Tiger Bay on 31.03.06 at 11:15]

Thank you Renee Webb for this op-ed piece in the Bermuda Sun.

http://www.bermudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=135&ArticleID=29039

"Why are we so afraid to make school test results public? And why do people cover up for each other to mask the failures in education?"

I agree wholeheartedly.

[claude grisham on 17.04.06 at 18:01]

Do these test scores have any effect on the students grades, such as report card grades?