Manning: National Tests well organised

EDUCATION Minister Hazel Manning said the National Tests in Mathematics and Language Arts taken by students on June 22 were well administered and organised, contrary to claims by the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA). TTUTA had called on teachers to participate in a day of “rest and reflection” on the day of the test, which it claimed resulted in principals having to use ancillary staff to assist with the conduct of the test. Some schools in St Patrick and Tobago had to do the tests on June 23. Manning said of the 20,000 Standard One and Three students who were eligible to write the test, 18,000 actually wrote the exam at 485 of the 586 Government, Government-assisted and private schools. She said 435 schools completed and returned the tests. She said the tests done on June 23 will not be disregarded, but a sample will be used to benchmark the performance of students.

The Minister said  information had been sought on the factors which impacted on the students’ performance through questionnaires to a sample of principals, teachers and students, to ascertain if the tests were well administered. On the reliability of the tests, Manning said measures were introduced to increase the reliability of the data, including a system of monitoring the administration of the tests by travelling officers of the Ministry and standardisation of the tests. Guidelines were also given to schools, with the students’ paper being marked under the guidance of trained curriculum facilitators. She said 270 primary school teachers were involved in the exercise. Results of the tests will be used to develop policies and programmes to improve student performance and assist in remediation exercises.