Grading standards adjusted for new school year
BVI News Staff - Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 at 8:09 AM
Secondary schools in the territory will have new grading standards when the new school year begins in September.
Word of this came from Education Minister Myron Walwyn as he addressed educators, principals and school teachers at ‘Professional Teachers Day’ held at the H Lavity Stoutt Community College yesterday.
Walwyn said he had requested a review of the Secondary School Leaving Assessment process from 2007 – 2011. He said this review was successfully conducted and the committee, headed by Elmore Stoutt, made a number of recommendations to help the territory maintain a transparent assessment process.
He said one of the committee’s recommendations that the ministry will be implementing this year is the raising of the grading standards.
“We are finding that our students are having difficulties adjusting to the academic standards in higher education. To better prepare them, our new grading standards will require students to attain at least a 4.5 grade point average on a scale of nine for passing grades. The percentage requirement for letter grades will also be increased by 5 percent,” he said.
The minister says an A+ will require a student to obtain a grade of 90-100 percent instead of 85 to 100 percent; a B+ will require a student to obtain a grade of 75 -79 percent instead of 70 – 74 percent, and accordingly a C grade will now be considered 55- 59 percent instead of 50-59 percent as currently obtains. Additionally, he said, the same grading scheme and structure for assessments, promotions and graduations will now be used across all of the public schools.
Walwyn went onto say that schools will also be guided by a written policy as it pertains to supplemental assessments.
“The aim of the ministry is to ensure that each child in the Virgin Islands is given the same opportunities to succeed with one standard for all students, teachers and schools to adhere to. Our public education system will prove to be more accountable and all of our students will be given greater opportunities for success,” explained.
The education minister also said that effective from the 2013-2014 school year, the national school leaving exams will no longer account for only 15 percent of a student’s overall requirement for graduation.
“While we continue to focus on continuous assessment, the school leaving exams will now carry much more weight leading up to a student’s overall grade towards graduation. This will ensure that our students are always actively engaged throughout their senior year in high school and guarantee that they are better prepared for regional exams,” he said.
Currently, the minister said it is highly possible for a student to graduate from the secondary school system without sitting the national school leaving exams.
Copyright 2013 BVI News, Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
10 Comments
Disclaimer: BVI News and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the comments below or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any public forum. All comments posted on BVINews.com reflect the views and opinions of the commentators and not that of the management and staff. Click here for our full comment/user policy/ agreement.
I wonder what is CXC’s grading system? Where does the pass mark begin?
When I went to school anything below 70% was a failing grade.
90 – 100 = A A+ >95
80 – 89 = B B+ >85
70 – 79 = C C+ > 75
what happen to the slow learning children in the public high schools that are not going to bvi tech schoool…..this year the passing level will surely drop
Not necessarily…part of the prob with slow learning children is that they are usually taught the same as the faster learning from teachers….slow learning kids usually learn quicker from other kids.
All is well in raising the educational standards here and I applaud the Minister for his efforts; my only concern is the practice of nepotism in the schools, in particular Enis Adams Primary School. I am hoping that the Minister has addressed the situation up at that school; because I would hate to have to be faced with that problem with my child.
If you feel that you child is a victim of unjust treatment then why don’t you put pen to paper and write to the Ministry of Education and Culture so that a formal investigation could be carried out. Hiding behind a blog and making scandalous statements is not the way to solve “actual” problems. Plus, why don’t you do like everybody else who has a problem with their child and the school they attend, ask for a transfer. Why would you want to subject your child to this when there are so many other schools in the Territory.
Although you transfer a child the problem will still exist. Problems need to be dealt with in this place to ensure that no one else go through the same situation instead of pushing them under a rug or a hiding them on someone desk or garbage bin because they don’t feel they are important or because the person is a friend that must not be offended.
That has been going on for years at that school! I faced that problem with my child when she used to go there. I thank God that is over. Something needs to be done because this can seriously affect a child, especially his/her self-esteem. Some of those teachers are there too long. They need to keep rotating them. Then there will be no time for them to sit down and pick favourites.
At stueps… where in my blog did you read that I said my child was being victimized, nooooo, I said I would not like to be faced with that problem, and like …… said transferring a child out of the school is not going to solve the problem, and I am not hiding behind the blogs making scandalous statements, it was in the news, it was not any thing that was made up, I am just viewing MY concerns, if you don’t like it well that is just too bad. It sounds to me that you are offended by what was written and again I say well that’s too bad, things like these needs to be out in the open so such things like nepotism in the schools can stop.
if you gonna follow America standards do it straight across the board. Take out E and F. C should be 60.
Post a Comment