Girls outshine boys in PEP

Female students who sat the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) this year have outperformed their male counterparts in all subjects.

Of the 36,078 students registered, 18,495 were boys and 17,583 were girls.

In language arts, 86 per cent of girls received scores in the highly proficient or proficient categories while boys lagged behind at 68.5 per cent.

Some 254 male students ranked at the lowest level of performance, while the remaining 5,405 or 30 per cent were deemed to be at the developing level.

For mathematics, 56.6 per cent of girls were deemed highly proficient or proficient while only 45.2 per cent of boys did so.

More than 1,400 boys were at the beginning achievement level, and some 8,400 at the developing level.

In science, 61.4 per cent and 46.6 per cent of girls and boys, respectively were in the two highly ranked categories. For social studies, the numbers were 62.5 per cent and 44.7 per cent for girls and boys, respectively.

Education Minister Fayval Williams said 87 per cent of students who sat PEP were placed in a school of their choice.

The remaining 13 per cent were placed at schools in proximity to their primary school or home address.

School placements and scores were released to students yesterday afternoon.

In a press conference to announce the results of the examination on Friday, the minister said, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, this cohort did not sit the grade four or five PEP assessments.

Further, students only completed two of three grade six assessments – Ability Test in March and Curriculum-Based Test in April. Students did not sit the Performance Task assessment.

Williams said it was difficult to compare the 2022 results to previous years, as the sittings were varied.

The minister said two per cent or 786 students were absent on examination days. Those students will repeat Grade Six and sit their examinations in 2023.

Here is the breakdown of the student performance by subject in the Curriculum Based Test:

Mathematics

Beginning - 5.7%

Developing - 43.5%

Proficient - 45.9%

Highly proficient - 4.9%

Science

Beginning - 1.2%

Developing - 45%

Proficient - 33.8%

Highly proficient - 20%

Social Studies

Beginning - 4.8%

Developing - 41.9%

Proficient - 37.2%

Highly proficient - 16.1%

Language Arts

Beginning - 0.9%

Developing - 22%

Proficient - 62.7%

Highly proficient - 14.4%