ANA Results - 2011

 I have previously blogged about the implications of the Department of Basic Education's Annual National Assessments (ANAs) for educational evaluations. Yesterday, the grade 3, 6, and 9 results were released. The detailed report can be found on the FEDSAS website.

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Some highlights from the  Statement on the Release of the Annual National Assessments Results for 2011 by Mrs Angie Motshekga, Minister of Basic Education, Union Buildings: 28 June 2011

“Towards a delivery-driven and quality education system”

Thank you for coming to this media briefing on the results of the Annual National Assessments (ANA) for 2011. These tests were written in February 2011 in the context of our concerted efforts to deliver an improved quality of basic education.

It was our intention to release the results on 29 April 2011, at the start of the new financial year, so that we could give ourselves, provinces, districts and schools ample time to analyse them carefully and take remedial steps as and where necessary. Preparing for this was a mammoth task and there were inevitable delays.

Background

We have taken an unprecedented step in the history of South Africa to test, for the very first time, nearly 6 million children on their literacy and numeracy skills in tests that have been set nationally.

This is a huge undertaking but one that is absolutely necessary to ensure we can assess what needs to be done in order to ascertain that all our learners fulfil their academic and human potential.

ANA results for 2011 inform us of many things, but in particular, that the education sector at all levels needs to focus even more on its core business – quality learning and teaching.

We’re conscious of the formidable challenges facing us. The TIMMS and PIRLS international assessments over the past decade have pointed to difficulties with the quality of literacy and numeracy in our schools.

Our own systemic assessments in 2001 and 2004 have revealed low levels of literacy and numeracy in primary schools.

The Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) results of 2007 have shown some improvements in reading since 2003, but not in maths.

This is worrying precisely because the critical skills of literacy and numeracy are fundamental to further education and achievement in the worlds of both education and work. Many of our learners lack proper foundations in literacy and numeracy and so they struggle to progress in the system and into post-school education and training.

This is unacceptable for a nation whose democratic promise included that of education and skills development, particularly in a global world that celebrates the knowledge society and places a premium on the ability to work skilfully with words, images and numbers.

Historically, as a country and an education system, we have relied on measuring the performance of learners at the end of schooling, after twelve years. This does not allow us to comprehend deeply enough what goes on lower down in the system on a year by year basis.

Purpose of ANA

Our purpose in conducting and reporting publicly on Annual National Assessments is to continuously measure, at the primary school level, the performance of individual learners and that of classes, schools, districts, provinces and of course, of the country as a whole.

We insist on making ANA results public so that parents, schools and communities can act positively on the information, well aware of areas deserving of attention in the education of their children. The ANA results of 2011 will be our benchmark.

We will analyse and use these results to identify areas of weakness that call for improvement with regard to what learners can do and what they cannot.

For example, where assessments indicate that learners battle with fractions, we must empower our teachers to teach fractions. When our assessments show that children do not read at the level they ought to do, then we need to revisit our reading strategies.

While the ANA results inform us about individual learner performance, they also inform us about how the sector as a whole is functioning.

Going forward, ANA results will enable us to measure the impact of specific programmes and interventions to improve literacy and numeracy.

Administration of ANA

The administration of the ANA was a massive intervention. We can appreciate the scale of it when we compare the matric process involving approximately 600 000 learners with that of the ANA, which has involved nearly 6 million.

There were administrative hiccups but we will correct the stumbling blocks and continue to improve its administration.

The administration of the ANA uncovered problems within specific districts not only in terms of gaps in human and material resources, but also in terms of the support offered to schools by district officials.

ANA results for 2011

Before conducting the ANA, we said we needed to have a clear picture of the health of our public education system – positive or negative – so that we can address the weaknesses that they uncover. This we can now provide.

The results for 2011 are as follows:

In Grade 3, the national average performance in Literacy, stands at 35%. In Numeracy our learners are performing at an average of 28%. Provincial performance in these two areas is between 19% and 43%, the highest being the Western Cape, and the lowest being Mpumalanga.

In Grade 6, the national average performance in Languages is 28%. For Mathematics, the average performance is 30%. Provincial performance in these two areas ranges between 20% and 41%, the highest being the Western Cape, and the lowest being Mpumalanga.

In terms of the different levels of performance, in Grade 3, 47% of learners achieved above 35% in Literacy, and 34% of learners achieved above 35% in numeracy.

In the case of Grade 6, 30% of learners achieved above 35% in Languages, and 31% of learners achieved above 35% in Mathematics.

This performance is something that we expected given the poor performance of South African learners in recent international and local assessments. But now we have our own benchmarks against which we can set targets and move forward.

Conclusion

Together we must ensure that schools work and that quality teaching and learning takes place.

We must ensure that our children attend school every day, learn how to read and write, count and calculate, reason and debate.

Working together we can do more to create a delivery-driven quality basic education system. Only this way can we bring within reach the overarching goal of an improved quality of basic education.

Improving the quality of basic education, broadening access, achieving equity in the best interest of all children are preconditions for realising South Africa’s human resources development goals and a better life for all.

I thank you.

Read the full Statement and some reactions to this statement:

Statement by the Western Cape Education Department
News report by the Mail and Guardian Online 
Statement by the largest teacher union SADTU
Statement by the official opposition

22 Seems to be the Magic Number in Solving Education problems!

In a previous post, I introduced the book by Stuart S. Yeh Entitled “The Cost-Effectiveness of 22 Approaches for Raising Student Achievement”.
Now the World Bank released a report entitled “Making Schools Work – New Evidence on Accountability Reforms” which is based on 22 recent impact evaluations of accountability-focused reforms in 11 developing countries. I wonder why this fascination with the number 22?


In the book (written by Barbara Burns, Deon Filmer and Harry Anthony Patrinos) they investigate strategies to address “service delivery failures” where increased spending does not lead to a concomitant change in education output (completion) or outcomes (learning). The idea is that if people in the schooling system are held accountable, things will improve.

This book focuses specifically on

three key strategies to strengthen accountability relationships in school systems—information for accountability, school-based management, and teacher incentives

 and looks into how these can affect school enrolment, completion, and student learning.

Main findings about the three strategies include:


Information for accountability (for example – providing “school report cards”) seems to work, but it isn’t a solution to all the problems. Which information is shared, who it is shared with and how it is shared are important considerations which could help parents, communities and other role players identify where the weaknesses in the system is.


School based management reforms (e.g. implementing effective school governance, and school based management) are effective, but these “reforms need at least five years to bring about fundamental changes at the school level and about eight years to yield significant changes in test scores”


Teacher incentives of two kinds have been investigated: Contract teachers (where teachers are contracted on condition that they deliver certain results), and pay for performance reforms (bonuses from meeting targets) seem to be successful too, but perverse behaviours (Such as gaming, cheating or teaching to the test) are likely to abound and eventually negate the overall success of this strategy.

We’ve seen some progress in this regard in the South African schooling system: School Management and Governance training remains an important component of “whole school” development, and the implementation of the Annual National Assessments (ANA) is likely to evolve into an “information for accountability” initiative. (Also see this article about the ANA’s in the local press). Perhaps its time to take the hand of the labour unions and see how incentivising teachers can be implemented?

Evaluation of iPad for Education

Reed College, in Portland Oregon, reports on their evaluation of the use of the iPad in class here. Reports on the use by students and faculty are available.

Whereas a previous evaluation was very critical of the usefulness of the Kindle DX in the class context, this report seems to support the adoption of tablets in the classroom.

The report particularly commented positively on the legibility of material on the iPad, the usability of the touch screen and the size and weight of the tablet. It was also found to be particularly useful if students wanted to switch between texts in class, and the search ability and navigation within texts was also positively evaluated.

They commented that PDF transferability was somewhat difficult, the filing system was not optimally user friendly and that the on-screen keyboard of the iPad did not efficiently support more than short comment typing. Some other concerns related to cost factors and accessibility