GSAT JOY
Jamaica Gleaner News – GSAT JOY – Lead Stories – Friday | June 18, 2010.
But while the official results will be released today, those wishing to see the list of scholarship winners will have to wait about two weeks.
The GSAT results will determine the grade-seven placements assigned to all 48,200 candidates who sat the examination on March 25 and 26. The students were from 797 public and 207 private schools. Included in the number are 17 children who were homeschooled.
How are our home-schooled children measuring up in GSAT and beyond?
Learn MoreGSAT gloom – Ministry disappointed with Jamaica’s national averages (2008)
GSAT replaced the Common Entrance Examination in 1999. Performance in the test determines the placement of students in secondary schools.“We are not comfortable with those averages because we would like for students to do well,” Lawrence told The Gleaner last night.
The averages for all the subjects last year were not available yesterday, but the education ministry said there was an improvement in mathematics this year which had a national average in the 40s in 2007.
Looking back adds a new perspective. A national average of less than 50 in Mathematics!? We have our eyes peeled for this years analysis.
Learn MoreMy fix for GSAT placement woes
My fix for GSAT placement woes – Commentary – Jamaica Gleaner – Sunday | November 6, 2011.
2010 data show that:
1. The top-five schools, as judged by student preference, have 1,300 places; 9,000 students selected these schools as their first choice.
2. The top-10 schools, judged by student preferences had a total 2,565 places; 14,000 students selected them as first choice.
3. The top-20 schools, judged by student preferences had a total of 4,720 places; 24,239 selected these schools as first choices.
4. In 2011, Campion College, which has 210 places, had 1,635 students selecting the school as their first choice. That suggests that only one in every eight students would be successful in ‘passing’ for Campion.
Critical information already acquired from the GSAT review. How can we manage expectations and increase the number of “preferred schools”
Proposed solution
While the long-term solutions exist in the improvement of all schools to a minimum standard and the establishment of a minimum infrastructural blessing that includes an equipped science lab, computer lab, study area, library, playing field and canteen, there is need for a short-term solution which I suggest exists in a model I term the Realistic Objective School Selection Scenarios (ROSSS).
Interesting short term approach. Has the review term or the foreign review consultant been given access to this proposal?
Learn MoreGSAT is whack* – Jamaica Observer
GSAT is whack* – Jamaica Observer Mobile.
Holness said then that the GSAT, in assigning educational opportunities, was effectively assigning life chances: “Jamaica operates in a Darwinian education system — survival of the brightest — and we have grown accustomed to that… It is in our nature… So GSAT from Common Entrance from selecting the house slaves is just a way of awarding life chances.” And according to Holness, the only way to make the leap from field slave to house slave was to build more schools.
We do believe that the absolute shortage of placement schools must be addressed as a part of any meaningful GSAT review
While the analogy was most unfortunate, the solution was practical and realistic. If we pin the problem with the GSAT to the fact that there is a shortage of schools — June results of the 2011 Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) required fitting 48,000 students into 30,000 spaces in the school term which started in September — then perhaps we can save ourselves $10.3 million (or at least do something nice for our GSAT teachers with it) and then fix the problem for good.
And we wonder too, if parents, instead of negotiating for places in more “desirable” schools, would lend their energy and efforts to the upliftment of the school in which their children were placed what would be the result?
Will there be a meaningful outcome from the very expensive review and report?
Learn MoreIn the meantime, it costs about $500 million to build a high school from scratch. The last Government spent almost twice that — $800 million — on a road that is less than a mile long. If the minister of education, the Reverend Ronnie Thwaites, is tenacious enough to convince his Government and the Inter-American Development Bank to spend money on a review of something that has already been reviewed, then perhaps he can use his fund-raising skills to secure financing to build something that really needs to be built.
GSAT review coming
GSAT review coming – News – Go-Jamaica.
Learn MoreThe overseas consultant is expected to work with the local team to conduct the review some time before July this year.
The GSAT review initiative is to be funded by the government and the Inter-American Development Bank.