The months of June to September are usually very consequential ones for the education system as a whole, but specifically for the 40,000 grade 6 students who take the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams in June and the grade 11, 12, and 13 students who take Caribbean Examinations Council examinations — Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

For all of them, this is a decisive juncture in their lives that will determine their pathway to the future. The anticipation around the results of these examinations, to some extent, confirm that many still see education as the ladder to ultimate success.

For those of us who have even been tangentially involved in PEP, we look forward to the scientific, objective evaluation of its real success: To what extent has it fulfilled the commendable core objectives of enhancing students’ higher order thinking of problem solving, reasoning, and creativity. It should also signal a decisive and mortal blow to rote learning and memorisation.

The teams who will do this evaluation could encounter some questions about the validity and reliability of their findings given all the unexpected natural disasters that affected both the initial roll-out and the staging of this examination. In the first year of administering PEP to grade 6 students, all the subject assessments were not offered. Students, therefore, did an ‘abridged’ version of the examination. Coincidentally, those first PEP students are the same ones who took CSEC this year. They were then the ‘victims’ of the COVID-19 pandemic with all its disruptions and now Hurricane Melissa that had similar effects.

As a secondary stakeholder in the education system, I would urge the Ministry of Education (MOE) to evaluate not only the academic and competency impact of PEP, but also the psychological effects. The students begin the PEP assessments at grade 4. For three years, they are involved in a most gruelling and virtually unrelenting process. What impact does this have on their academic achievements and their attitude to education generally? What is more, the process itself displays inequities.

Parental involvement seems to be a sine qua non given the extent of the assignments that students must complete. Not all parents are able to be involved. I am sure the analysis, when it is done, will reveal the correlation between the educational achievements of the parents and their children’s PEP results.

PEP continues to be a high-stakes examination because not every placement in the secondary system is of equal value. So the quest for parents, schools, and children alike must be to gain a space in ‘high-performing’ schools, and this leads to extra lessons; extra, extra lessons; as well as Saturday and, yes, Sunday classes. Not every parent can afford these ‘add-ons’. Ask why so many extras and you will be told that the syllabus cannot be completed in the regular class time.

That is only the prelude. The interlude is when the results are published and there is jubilation by some and deep disappointment by many. Some students who are not placed in their first or second choice and who will be attending a ‘non-traditional’ high school feel let down and question their value. But they are not the only ones who assume this disposition. Go to any graduation and you will usually hear the report that speaks of those who are going to the high-ranking schools — another basis for division and separation.

Parents then scramble around to get transfers, based on all types of rationale — travelling distance, other siblings attending a particular school, etc — but generally the real reason is they would like to ‘upgrade’ their child’s placement. And who can blame them? Who does not want their child to get the best?

The highest that can be scored for PEP is 400 points. The placement is based on a computerised ranking system that calculates a composite score for the tests in grades 4, 5, and 6. The problem is that all children do not learn in the same way; hence, we constantly speak of differences in learning styles. The MOE seems to have somewhat recognised this with the introduction of three alternative pathways designed to meet students’ level of competence based on their performance.

Students on Pathway 1 score in the high 300s range. They are usually given the preferred placements in traditional high schools. The ‘poor-performing schools’ usually receive students who score below 300 points and are usually clustered around the 250s range. They are placed in pathways 2 and 3 in non-traditional secondary schools which do not usually receive students from Pathway 1.

The contrast in scores between placement in traditional and non-traditional schools tells its own story of inequity at the beginning and end of these students’ school lives.

Here is a random profile of the intakes of these schools:

• Over 70 per cent of the grade 7 intake needs transitional and specialised support.

• About 10 per cent demonstrate mastery in literacy

• About 5 per cent demonstrate below mastery in numeracy.

These are mean calculations.

Real and sustained solutions lie at the early childhood and primary levels, but even there, there are variations in quality and opportunities. What is needed?

• Conduct diagnostic assessments of these students that are subject-specific but which also identify cognitive and non-cognitive deficits students may be experiencing.

• Use the results to design appropriate academic and psychological interventions.

• Reinforce literacy and numeracy across all subjects. Many creative programmes now exist. More of the same rigid classroom-style delivery will not cut it.

• Strengthen differentiated instruction, flexible grouping, and non-traditional teaching and learning modalities.

• Use data to inform lesson planning and types of interventions.

It has to be a whole-of-school and whole-of-government programme with focused, creative, holistic, and sustained interventions .This is what will give students a real chance in life.

Maxine Henry-Wilson is a former Minister of Education.

Maxine Henry-Wilson