First Semester Grades

I just finished marking (grading) my exams for the first semester. If I wasn’t in a better mood, and if I didn’t have insight into the local primary schools, I’d be pretty devastated right now.

The high score was 77 (of 100), which isn’t too bad, until you look at the following statistics:

Mean = 22.3
Standard Deviation =14.6
Median = 18

And a low score of 5.

Looking at a bin chart of the frequency of scores within a certain range tells the tale. It is nearly the inverse of (admittedly inflated) grade curves. A pass here is 50%, and just 4 of my 64 students passed.



Naturally, I went and had a chat with my principal. He knows the story. He is teaching seniors here and hopes that maybe 3 will pass the Cambridge Overseas Exam (for developing nations) in November. We began to talk about what we could do to improve the math proficiency of the students. I shrugged. Then said, “How many of the Form As passed math in Standard 7 (the last year of elementary school here)?”
“They all passed.”
“No, how many passed math?”
“Oh, we will have to look at the scores. Probably just the 4 that passed your exam.”
“Is it a requirement that they at least get a pass in English to get into high school?”
“No.”
I really didn’t think any more analysis was needed to identify what the problem is. The curriculum I am teaching is nearly identical to the Standard 7 curriculum. It is supposed to be a time for them to master the material, not to learn it. It is supposed to be a review to cement the concepts and skills. Instead, I have functionally illiterate students, most of whom did not pass the math or English portion of the Standard 7 exit exam, which means they got less than 50%, and it may even be as low as 40%, I’m not sure.

But, I don’t have the time or energy to go butt heads with the primary schools about their clear lack of teaching, teaching ability and moral duty to the children of the community to end the cycle of ignorance and poverty. So, here we are with 64 students in Form A, 4 of whom have gotten above 50%, and one of whom, the brightest in math, would have gotten a C+ in an American classroom, in math at the 5th or 6th grade math level. I’m stumped. I suggested we do individual counseling with students to help them create an educational roadmap to achieve what they want. This was smiled at. It’s honestly the only thing I can think of, but would require a massive change in culture at the school. It would be a huge increase in workload by the teachers. We have trouble enough maintaining simple directions, let alone a school wide program of student mentoring and career counseling. I would love to start meeting with two students a day, but they don’t understand English and I’m not exactly conversant in Sesotho. Any ideas out there?
That’s the current school situation in Lesotho. In other news, I’m working on building a keyhole garden and a little fire pit in the ‘yard’. I’ll put up some pictures when the projects have moved along a bit. There is also some local interest in homebrew windmill technology, which I’ve been researching a bit (I’m investing some time reviewing the circuits and mechanical-to-electrical energy sections in the new textbooks I received). If anybody knows of any good DIY windmill sites, I would appreciate some direction, as internet research is quite slow and expensive. Also, we’re hoping to get a small grant (like $50) to improve a foot bridge that half of the students use daily to cross a river. I think that’s all the auxiliaries.

OH. If you are interested in helping with the African Library Project book drive for Sefako High School, the deadline for shipping books to the container in New Orleans is November 20, 2009. So, if you’re attached to a school schedule somehow, you should still have 5 weeks to collect books before you need to ship them to the container. Please visit the African Library Project website for great tips for book drives!

OH OH. I am going to share a different mailbox in Butha-Buthe with some other PCVs so I have better access to my mail. The new address is in the sidebar.

Be well. Be happy. Be good. Cheers All.