Primary two students in public basic schools in Ghana are expected to write a National Standardised Test later this year, Professor Edward Appiah, the Director general of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) has said.
The national test will enable the Ministry of Education to generate data on the performance of pupils in English Language and Mathematics.
Speaking to Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday, Appiah said the initiative is in line with the implementation of the new curriculum.
“We do Primary 2, Primary 4 and Primary 6. This year we were going to do Primary 2, but the first one was with Primary 4 now we want to do Primary 2 because we think that is where at least we getting the feel of what it is,” he said.
“So that in Primary 3 we can put in some intervention and then we can assess on Primary 4 to see whether there has been some growth and then we move on to Primary 5 if there are more interventions we need to provide and then Primary 6 will be tested again until the exit point.”
He added: “And it is also on the basis of the fact that this curriculum looks at assessment for learning, which is key, assessment drives learning.”
Listen to Professor Edward Appiah in the attached audio below:
Ahafo Region ranked best in national test for primary four pupils
Meanwhile, the Ahafo Region has emerged first in the maiden National Standardised Test for primary four pupils organised by the Ghana Education Service.
The Volta Region was the lowest performing region, with 96% of the primary four pupils falling within the below basic level, 3% attaining basic level and 1% attaining proficiency.
The Western and the Western North regions followed, with 96% and 93%, respectively, of their pupils falling within the below basic level.
The Eastern, the Upper East and the Western regions followed, with 77, 76 and 72 per cent, respectively, in the below basic level.
Below is the chart for the results in English and Mathematics:
Breakdown
In general, the performance of the pupils in English was fairly better than in Mathematics.
That is, 50% of the pupils were Below Basic level in English, while the other 50% were made up of the Basic, Proficient and Advanced.
The findings also indicated that primary school pupils were seriously challenged in Mathematics.
62% of the pupils were Below Basic level while the other 38% were made up of the Basic, Proficient and Advanced.
About NST
The National Standardized Test (NST) is for the assessment of curriculum standards including the 4Rs, knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that are central to the new Pre-Tertiary education curriculum.
It also reflects increasing globalization and interest in global mandates. It represents an overall shift in emphasis in assessing the quality of education inputs to learning outcomes, and responsive to some global mandates
In all 14,883 primary schools participated in the P4 National Standardized Test (NST) exercise.
According to the Education Strategic Plan 2018-2030, the targeted proficiency for pupils in P4 in Mathematics and English is supposed to be 38 and 53 respectively, by the 2025/26 Academic Year.
Below is the full presentation
NST PRESENTATION – LATEST (1) (1)
Fred Dzakpata
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