Over the past month, the Cayman Current has been exploring the Education Data Report 2020, which has been published on the Department of Education Service’s website.
This post will act as a summary of our key observations gleaned from the series.
+ Year 11 exam scores improved at all 3 public high schools.
Cayman Islands ‘national expectations’ are that students achieve 5 or more Level 2 passes, including in English and Mathematics.
The pass rate at Layman Scott High School was 76%. At Clifton Hunter High School it was 56%. At John Gray High School it was 53%.
Data Report 2020: Year 11 exam scores improve at all high schools
+ Year 11 girls again outperformed boys in English, Maths.
91% of girls passed English and 63% passed Maths. By comparison, 76% of boys passed English and 51% passed Maths.
Overall, 63% of girls met the national expectation, compared to 48% of boys.
Gender gap: Year 11 girls again outperform boys in English, Maths
+ Public high schoolers battle learning gaps from primary years.
Many students are already at a learning disadvantage by the time they exit primary school.
Students tend to ‘underachieve’ in primary school and then ‘catch up’ somewhat in their final years of high school.
‘Actual outcomes’ for Year 6 students fall significantly short of predictions made by their scores on ‘Cognitive Abilities Tests’ (CAT4).
On the other hand, many more Year 11 students end up succeeding on ‘actual’ exams than predicted by their CAT4 results.
Slow starts, late blooming: Public high schoolers battle learning gaps from primary years
+ Student performance varies widely at different public primary schools.
George Town Primary School had the largest groups of students who performed ‘below expectations’ in Reading (78%), Writing (73%) and Maths (63%).
West End Primary School (Cayman Brac) had the smallest groups of students who performed ‘below expectations’ in Reading (13%), Writing (20%) and Maths (20%).
At every school, and in every subject, a larger number of students actually performed ‘below expectations’ than was predicted by CAT4 results.
Analysis: Student performance varies widely at public primary schools
+ Students with diagnosed Special Education Needs (SEND) perform about as well as students being initially monitored for potential learning needs.
Government schools have 3 phases for SEND support. In Phase 1, students are monitored and receive support from their teacher. In Phase 2, students get more support, including from a school-based team outside their classroom. In Phase 3, students receive support from outside their school.
Students in Phase 2 perform significantly better on Year 11 exams in English, Maths and Science than students in Phase 1 and students in Phase 3.
Phase 1 students outperform Phase 3 students in English, have about the same scores in Maths, but have a much lower pass rate in Science.
Overall, students with no SEND have significantly higher exam scores in all subjects than students with potential or verified education disabilities.
Analysis: How students with education disabilities fare on Year 11 exams
+ Explore results on 116 different exams taken by Year 11 and 12 students.
Public school students had exam choices ranging from ‘Accounts’ and ‘Media Studies’ to ‘Physics’ and ‘Textiles’. Test formats include CSEC, CAPE, BTEC, and GCSE.
In terms of the percentage of students earning top marks (i.e. A*/A/I), Cayman students excelled in Physical Education, Electronic Document Preparation & Management, Spanish and Statistics, where more than half of students got the highest grades.
We built a sortable, searchable table of the exam results that you can explore.