Schools Reporting High Math Passes from use of Training Module

KINGSTON — A mathematics teaching module, piloted in six high schools over a three-year period, has significantly improved the test scores of students at the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) level.

Designed by former principal of Campion College, Radley Reid, the teaching guide has garnered tremendous results, with some schools reporting percentage changes of over 100 per cent, and one school recording a 1,000 per cent improvement rate.

Commissioned by the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Foundation, under its Math Project 2004 to 2007, the Mathematics Scope and Sequence training module was recently handed over to Minister of Education, Hon. Andrew Holness, who gave a commitment that it would be infused into the mathematics syllabus at the CSEC level in all schools across the island.

Mr. Reid, who has worked assiduously over the last six years with education stalwarts Terry Tomlinson and Lola McKinley to compile the teaching and training guide, is hoping that the tool will be implemented in high schools across Jamaica to achieve similar results.

Its use has been reaping significant rewards for six high schools in Kingston and St. Andrew where the project was piloted. These are: Jamaica College, St. George’s College, St. Hugh’s High School, Meadowbrook High School, Gaynstead High School and Mona High School.

Mr. Reid informs that the schools were selected based on specific criteria, which involved personal visits to the schools, as well as the interviewing of principals and heads of department (HoDs).

He explains that the training module came out of the “appalling” CSEC results of 2004, where only 36 per cent of those who sat the mathematics examination obtained grades one to three passes.

He says that after completing five years of secondary education, only 46 per cent of the students were entered for the examination and of the 36 per cent, who passed, 64 per cent obtained grade three; 27.3 per cent received grade two; and only 11 per cent scored grade one.

Mr. Reid informs that he was approached by the NCB Foundation after the results were published to _rganize a series of summer workshops in mathematics in the hope to improve the performance of secondary school students.

“However, having seen the outcome of similar initiatives in the past, I suggested that a more sustained approach was necessary if NCB really wanted to make an impact on the quality of mathematics in the schools. Hence, I was asked to do a project proposal for a three-year period, basically dealing with grades nine to 11,” he states.

Mr. Reid and his team of consultants got to work, setting out to develop the project outline. In the process, they also put forward a number of goals they were hoping to achieve as a result of the implementation of the programme.

They projected that for the selected six schools, at the end of the three years, there would be a 10 per cent increase in the number of students sitting math at CXC/CSEC; a 10 per cent improvement in the number passing at grades one, two and three; and a 10 per cent increase in the number passing at grades one and two.

“With sustainability in mind…we embarked on the development of unit and lesson plans with the aid of the teachers and these were done from the scope and sequence chart,” he states. “We had workshops with the principals, HoDs, teachers of the entire mathematics departments, grade level teachers and individual teachers,” he further notes.

The workshops involved courses in lesson planning, unit planning, knowledge of content areas, teaching methodologies, test construction, classroom management, and assessment strategies. “We followed up with frequent school and classroom visits to observe teachers and students at work and especially to deal with clinical supervision of the teachers and students,” he says.

Mr. Reid informs that after much work, at the end of the pilot in 2007, the programme realised ouststanding results, with the three main targets relating to student performance met, and in some cases, significantly surpassing expectation. 

There was an average change in the number of students entering the exam, from 13.4 per cent to 13.9 per cent. The number of students passing with grades one, two and three also grew from 23 per cent to 45.1 per cent, with grade one passes increasing from 7.7 per cent to a massive 130.5 per cent.

Mr. Reid further notes that some teachers also made tremendous improvement in the areas of lesson planning, preparation and delivery, as well as increasing knowledge in some topics in the math curriculum, which helped them to confidently deliver lessons and assess strategies.

Mr. Reid notes that even after the pilot project ended in 2007, several schools continued to implement elements of the scope and sequence module in their curriculum and, these schools continued to make notable improvements.

He informs that the percentage change ranged from 35.5 per cent to 68.4 per cent in 2004 to 88 per cent to over 1,000 per cent in 2010.

Highlighting the performance of students from two specific schools, he states that for Meadowbrook High School, in 2004, only 40 of 176 students passed the math exam and in 2010, 146 of 199 students made the passing grade.

In the case of Gaynstead High School, 44 of 60 students achieved passing grades in 2010, from three out of 61 in 2004.

The retired teacher remarks that he believed the mathematics scope and sequence chart has “been tried and proven and can be implemented, with adaptation if necessary, with success in any school”.

He recommends however that its introduction be accompanied by the training of teachers on “how to use it, how to manage it, how to deliver it and how to assess it, in order to reproduce the desired outcomes”.

“We also recommend that the (NCB) Foundation launch a sustained programme over a projected period of not less than five years to produce a pool of suitably trained and qualified mathematics teachers,” he remarks.

Meanwhile, Head of the Mathematics Department at the Meadowbrook High School, Errol Graham, outlines what the programme has done for his students.

“We continue to use the scope and sequence and the programme has been quite beneficial to us,” he remarks.

Mr. Graham notes that the school’s pass rate went from 21.7 per cent in 2004 to 58.16 per cent in 2005, and improved to 68.48 per cent in 2007.  “By 2008, our passes went to 73.25 per cent and the pass rate has not fallen since,” he says.

Principal of Gaynstead High School, Barbara Johnson, says that the scope and sequence module has been used extensively, and almost exclusively by the teachers and has contributed directly to the incremental improvement of the students’ performance in mathematics at the CSEC level.

Mrs. Johnson informs that in the academic year 2005/2006, the pass rate of CSEC mathematics was only 8 per cent and after implementing the programme, a 50 per cent improvement was achieved, bringing the pass rate to 16 per cent in 2007.

“The astounding improvement continued on to subsequent years bringing the pass rate to 34 per cent in 2008, then 54 per cent in 2009 and 73 per cent in 2010,” she outlines.

“Not only was there improvement in the performance of the students…but attitude towards mathematics also showed signs of improvement and for many students at Gaynstead, mathematics became their favourite subject,” the principal adds.

Minister Holness lauds the work of the educators and the NCB Foundation.  He has committed to the training of teachers at the secondary school level in the proper implementation of the new approach. 

By ATHALIAH REYNOLDS, JIS Reporter