By Paddy Attwell, Director of Communication, Western Cape Education Department

The following article appeared in the Cape Argus on 20 October 2010.

There has been extensive commentary on the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) testing of the literacy and numeracy levels of Grades 3, 6 and 9 learners.

Therefore it is important to sketch the background to these tests and results to clarify key points in this debate.

The WCED started testing the literacy and numeracy skills of Grade 3 learners in 2002 and Grade 6 learners in 2003.

The objective is simple: to find out what our learners know and can do in these grades and what we have to do to ensure that they can achieve the knowledge and skills required by the curriculum.

The WCED engaged independent assessment specialists to develop instruments to test these skills. The department has shared examples of the Grade 3 and 6 tests with schools and there are test items on the WCED website.* (see below)

Over the past eight years the tests have generated vast amounts of data that give a picture of the strengths and weaknesses of learners by school and education district.

We use the results at provincial, district, circuit and school level, to design support and to track progress. The WCED has used this data to inform a comprehensive literacy and numeracy strategy, implemented by specialized support teams and teams of teachers in schools.

The WCED experienced resistance at first, in line with international experience in tests of this kind. The vast majority of schools now welcome the tests and use the results to reflect on their progress and plan for improvement in the coming year.

It is true that school principals are not allowed to ask their invigilators to clarify questions they have on the tests. The accepted international protocols for invigilation in matric exams, school tests and all other forms of assessments across the world are followed in the administration of the Grade 3, 6 and 9 tests. These protocols ensure that the individual learners are not provided with information that will unfairly advantage or disadvantage them and so undermine the reliability of the tests.

The success of the strategy of using testing to inform our literacy and numeracy strategy is reflected by the fact that most schools have improved their results over the last three years, many significantly.

For example, a total of 1046 primary schools participated in the Grade 6 literacy and numeracy tests in 2009. Of these, 611, or 58.4%, improved their results in numeracy, with 211 schools (20%) improving by more than 10%.

In literacy, 603 schools (57.6%) improved their results, with 341 (32.6%) schools increasing by more then 10%. These improvements have taken place almost entirely in our poorest schools.

According to the latest tests (2009), the Grade 6 literacy pass rate improved by 13.6% from 35% in 2003 to 48.6% in 2009. The numeracy pass rate improved slightly, from 15.6% to 17.4%.

Grade 3 results reflect similar patterns. The pass rate for literacy in Grade 3 has improved by 17.8% since 2002, from 35.7% to 53.5% in 2008. Grade 3 numeracy pass rates have shown no improvement overall.

The WCED does not support a "knock knuckles" approach to improve results. We have found instead that hundreds of schools, especially in poor areas, have learned from the results and have applied best practice, with the assistance of support teams where necessary. It would however be irresponsible if the WCED did not intervene if the results at a particular school did not improve year to year. Our ultimate responsibility is to the learner and our overriding objective of improving learner outcomes.

We are now intensifying this work by holding the tests for Grades 3 and 6 in a single year, and we have included Grade 9 for the first time in 2010. The Grade 9 tests were piloted this year. This is regarded as good practice before full scale implementation and will help to assess the validity and reliability of the tests for future use in this grade.

The WCED is a learning organization. One of the lessons we have learned is that considerable expertise is required in setting valid and reliable tests. A second lesson is that there are no quick fixes. We will continue to work with schools to improve the literacy and numeracy levels of all our learners.

Part of our literacy and numeracy strategy is to prioritise the allocation of resources to poorer schools, who receive the highest per capita subsidy per learner and are prioritized in the allocation of teachers. The WCED has provided additional teachers to poor schools in each of the last three years and will do so again in 2011. These teachers are mostly allocated to Quintile 1,2,3 schools. Those schools that employ additional teachers do so at considerable cost to parents and this in turn alleviates the financial burden on the WCED.

We welcome comments by teachers and principals in their professional capacity and we encourage them to contribute to informed discussions on testing in Grades 3, 6 and 9 so that we can improve the administration of tests and support for schools.

* Footnote: The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) started distributing the Grade 3 and 6 tests to schools via circulars in 2006. The department also placed the circulars and the tests on the web site in line with normal practice. The circulars are Curriculum Development Minutes 81 of 2006, 59 of 2007, 10 of 2008 and 7 of 2009  (open in a separate window or tab). The test items are those written by Grade 3 and 6 learners in the relevant years. The tests were based on the requirements of revised National Curriculum Statement for Grades 3 and 6.