CERIS (Caribbean Educational Research Information Service)

Permanent URI for this community

https://uwispace.sta.uwi.edu/handle/2139/49763

Thank you for choosing CERIS (Caribbean Educational Research Information Service). CERIS is an information service of the School of Education, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. The service provides access to information on education in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Services

Clients

  • All services are available to the staff of the School of Education
  • All services, except editorial and publishing services, are available to students of the School of Education
  • Online access and reference services are available to
    • Staff and students of all tertiary institutions in the Caribbean who are engaged in research on the education systems of the region
    • Researchers, planners, and policy makers of the Ministries of Education in the region
    • Private researchers in the region
    • Educational practitioners in the region
    • All other persons and institutions interested in the development of the education systems of the English-speaking Caribbean

For more information contact: Mrs. Petronetta Pierre-Robertson (petronetta.pierre-robertson@sta.uwi.edu)

Browse

Browsing CERIS (Caribbean Educational Research Information Service) by Subject "Academic achievement"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 60
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    A study of the mathematics achievement of first-year and second-year students at Erdiston Teachers' College, January 1972
    (Institute of Education. UWI, 1972) Broomes, Desmond R.;
    This study compared the performance of first- and second-year students, who were attending Erdiston Teachers' College as at June 1971, on mathematics tests. Mathematics Part I of the Final Year Mathematics Examination (1971) was administered to 102 second-year students and 99 first-year students at the college in June 1971. The main findings were that: 1) for both year groups, the mean performance of the male students was significantly better than the female students; 2) within both year groups, there were recognizable sub-groups of students of widely varying abilities in mathematics; 3) the main performance of the second-year students was significantly better than that of the first-year students; 4) the cognitive behaviours for the items on which both first-year and second-year students did not perform well, included mainly knowledge of terminology and knowledge of concepts; and 5) the content of items on which the first-year students performed significantly better than the second-year students was based on topics about mathematical properties and structures
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    A study of the relationship of authoritarianism and achievement in a Jamaican teachers' college
    (1972) Anderson, Laurence Ernest;
    This study sought to investigate the relationship of authoritarianism and achievement by first-year students of Church Teachers' College, Mandeville, Jamaica. The California F Scale of Authoritarianism was administered to the same group of students at intervals during their three-year course of study. It was found that: 1) low scoring students (less authoritarian) did not change significantly during their stay in college; 2) of the high scoring students, some became less authoritarian during their college stay, but some did not; and 3) low scores on the F scale were significantly related to success at college: the final college grades of students were used as the criterion measure. It was concluded that some students had very deep-seated authoritarian personalities, and that the college environment did not provide sufficient encouragement for the adoption of non-authoritarian views
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Access to upper levels: Its impact on achievement at the primary level
    (1990) Miller, Errol L.;
    This article examines the effect of access to the upper levels of the Jamaican educational system (affecting opportunities of upward mobility) on achievement at the lower levels. It also considers the related effect on traditional patterns of achievement, for example boys out-performing girls
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    An interim report on the mathematics achievement of first-year trainees at the teachers' colleges in Trinidad and Tobago
    (Institute of Education. UWI, May 1972) Furlonge, Errol A.;
    Prior to developing the mathematics curriculum for the teachers' colleges in Trinidad and Tobago, Mathematics Test A was administered at the beginning of the 1971-72 academic year to 338 first year teacher trainees in five of the six teachers' colleges. Data on the population and results of the test are presented in tabular format. The majority of trainees (146) had attained a Teacher Certificate. The average number of correct answers was 32, of incorrect answers, 26, and the average not attempted was 27
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    An investigation into the effects of mathematics on achievement in chemistry
    (1980) Harvey, Claude Winston;
    This study attempted to investigate the role of mathematics on achievement in chemistry at A'Level. Data were gathered from a sample of 85 Upper Sixth Form students from government and grant-aided schools in Jamaica. Of these students, 39 were doing A'Level chemistry and A'Level mathematics, and 46 were doing chemistry but not mathematics. The results of the data analysis indicated that the most important predictor of success in A'Level chemistry was performance in O'Level chemistry. However, it is suggested that mathematical skills contributed to some extent
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    An investigation into the relationship of certain cognitive, environmental, experimental and motivational variables to the academic achievement of selected Jamaican sixth form students
    (1978) Leo-Rhynie, Elsa;
    Performance at A'Level was the criterion of achievement used in this study that looked at a sample of 205 Jamaican sixth form students and 75 of their teachers. Among the high levels of performance on field dependence/independence, abstract reasoning, and spatial ability contributed to A'Level success, especially for male students, and for those of either sex pursuing science rather than arts courses. Motivational variables and study habits were more important to performances for the male and science groups than for the influenced student performance
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    An investigation into the relationship of certain variables to the science achievement of a selected group of Jamaican fifth form students
    (1981) Parris, Doreen J.;
    This study sought to determine the relationship existing between overall O'Level achievement, academic achievement in science, and 13 independent variables. Questionnaires and a mental ability test were used to collect data from a sample of 567 fifth form Jamaican students in 10 urban and rural schools, who were taking at least one science subject at General Certificate of Education (GCE) O'Level in 1976. Results of the data analysis showed that: 1) males performed better in science than females, but the overall performance in GCE of the females was higher; 2) the urban group performed significantly better than the rural group, both overall and in science; 3) the facilities provided by the school appeared to be more significantly related to science achievement of girls; 4) library facilities was the best predictor of overall performance in GCE O'Level; 5) vocational aspirations was the best predictor of science achievement; and 6) urban students displayed a more favourable attitude towards science than their rural counterparts
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    An investigation of the effect of expectations and other related variables on the achievement of Grade 11 students in English and mathematics
    (1980) Anderson, Jacqueline A.;
    This study sought to discover the effects of teacher expectations, pupils' perception of teachers, and parents' expectations, as well as self-concept and achievement motivation, on performance in the Secondary School Certificate (SCC) examination of selected Grade 11 Jamaican students. Results of the data analysis showed that: 1) there were significant differences between the male and female sub-groups on measures of academic self-concept (mathematics), self-esteem, and teachers' expectations regarding students' performance in mathematics; 2) the "expectations" variables correlated significantly with each other, as well as with the measure of achievement; and 3) the best predictors of the criterion measure, SSC Mathematics Achievement, were "Teacher Expectations (Mathematics)" and "Need for Achievement," while "Pupils' Perception of Teachers' Expectations (English)" and "Teachers' Expectations (English)" emerged as the best predictors of SSC English achievement
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    An investigation of the relationship between social class, success in the Common Entrance Examination and performance in the GCE `O' level examinations, Jamaica, 1975
    (Sep. 1979) Hamilton, Marlene A.;
    This paper examines the relationship between social class, success in the Common Entrance (CE) examination (11+) and performance in the General Certificate of Education (GCE) O'Level examination (1975) for a sample of 574 Jamaican students randomly selected from high schools in urban and rural Jamaica. The major dependent variable was the average grade gained by each student in the GCE, but there was also a secondary dependent variable in the form of the average number of subjects entered for. It is hypothesized that these two measures would be consistent, and thus serve to provide validation for the findings. Independent variables were 11+ performance, socio-economic stratum (SES) of students, location of school, and sex of student. The data were statistically analysed to identify instances of significant differences in performance among the various categories of students. The main findings were as follows: 1) urban boys of the upper SES who had not passed the 11+ examination entered for the largest number of GCE subjects; next were upper SES urban boys who had passed the 11+ examination, followed by their female counterparts; 2) in terms of the average grade obtained, urban girls in the upper SES category who had passed 11+, achieved the highest score, followed by urban upper SES boys who had not passed 11+, and then by those who had passed; 3) overall, students with 11+ passes achieved significantly better in the GCE than those without, hence the predictive value of the CE examination was substantiated; 4) it was found that, especially in the case of urban boys, SES was a more powerful and influential variable on GCE performance than 11+ performance; and 5) students in urban schools appeared more susceptible to SES and 11+ influences than their rural counterparts
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Bridging the gap between home and school: Improving achievement in primary schools
    (UNESCO, 1996) Sylva, Kathy; Blatchford, Iram Siraj
    In view of the persistence of the problem of retention and achievement in the primary grades, UNESCO decided to explore their relationship to curriculum teaching methods, and teaching and learning materials. To this end, four case studies were undertaken in Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Jamaica. The countries were given some broad guidelines for the study, which indicated that the purpose of the study was to identify, analyse, and itemize the children’s curriculum before they entered primary school. The participating countries were expected to identify the knowledge of children of 4-6 years of age, which would form the foundation for formal learning in such subject areas as language, mathematics, science, social studies, and sociocultural aspects of the environment (folktales, festivals customs), which could be translated into meaningful learning experiences. They were also expected to suggest teaching and learning materials and strategies that could enhance learning, and make it a more pleasurable experience for the young child. The Jamaican research team found that many of the children in the sample were living in deplorable conditions, but despite the disadvantages, many of them were lively and skilled at looking after themselves. A large proportion, however were falling behind in development, especially in the age range 4-6 years. Results show that: 1) in general urban children performed better than their rural peers on cognitive and language measures; 2) social and emotional development was often disappointing; 3) girls showed all-round better cognitive and language development, especially the 4-6 age group; 4) parents without exception, wanted their children to do well in school; 5) some children did not see their mothers much, especially single mothers (95 percent of the sample); 6) many children witnessed a great deal of aggression among adults; 7) many children were left in the care of older siblings, and did not have adequate educational stimulation; and 8) the vast majority of the children lived in homes with limited opportunity for conversation on literacy activities.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Cognition, educational attainment and behavior in a cohort of Jamaican children
    (Policy Development Unit, Planning Institute of Jamaica, 2000) Samms-Vaughn, Maureen
    This study sought to determine the pattern of cognition, educational attainment, and behaviour in a cohort of Jamaican children, and to identify a range of factors associated with optimum development and behaviour. The sample included all children born between September 1st and October 31st 1986, resident and/or attending school in Kingston and ST. Andrew, as well as the Portmore area of St. Catherine. The study employed a range of Instruments that addressed he areas of interest: socio-economic, family functioning, health, exposure to violence, self-esteem, academic achievement, cognitive function and behaviour.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Comparison of mathematics achievement of students in five teachers' colleges in 1967 and 1971
    (Institute of Education. UWI, 1972) Broomes, Desmond R.;
    This study compared the mathematics performance of students in teachers' colleges in the Eastern Caribbean in 1967 and in 1971, and attempted to identify differences in the mathematics curriculum in the two years, as reflected in the final year examination. Ten test items used in the Final Year Mathematics Examination for teachers' colleges in 1967 were included in the 1971 examination, and facility indices were prepared for the items. Comparison of the facility indices for groups of male and female candidates, and for each of the colleges showed that: 1) mathematics performance of the male candidates was better than that of the female candidates; 2) the profile of the performance of the male candidates on the items was very similar to the profile of the female candidates; 3) performance on five items remained unchanged over the 5-year period; and 4) performance on two of the three items that registered substantial changes over the period showed that, for some colleges, the performance did not change over the period
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Determinants of science achievement at the elementary level in a ""minority"" population
    Fraser-Abder, Pamela;
    This study examines some of the postulated determinants of science achievement at the primary level. The determinants examined are gender, parental occupation, socio-economic status, school gender, and school type. The 977 students who served as subjects were randomly selected from approximately 20,000 Trinidadian students who wrote the 11+ examination in March 1989. They were spread among nine denominational and six government schools. Overall, the results indicate that numerous factors appear to influence the achievement of primary school students. Since many negative factors appear to be correlated with home background, it was recommended that this should be the starting point of intervention
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Does preschool curriculum make a difference in primary school performance: Insights into the variety of preschool activities and their effects on school achievement and behaviour in the Caribbean island of Trinidad: Cross sectional and longitudinal evidence
    (Oct. 1994) Kutnick, Peter;
    This article describes a study that employed a focus sample, cross-sectional design to explore the types of preschool experience available (preschool activities equating broadly to curriculum approaches) and whether variation in preschool experience affects core curriculum (English, science, mathematics) performance and classroom behaviours throughout primary schooling in Trinidad
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Evaluating student performance in social studies
    (Jul. 1974) Beddoe, Innocent B.;
    This paper identifies some of the questions that should be answered in the evaluation of student learning in social studies
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    An Evaluation of Giving the Jamaican Government School Meal to a Class of Children
    (1983-09) Grantham-McGregor, Sally M.; Powell, Christine; Elston, M.
    This study evaluated the effects of giving the standard Jamaican government school meal to a class of schoolchildren. Unlike any other school feeding studies, this project was carefully controlled and carried out with under-nourished children who had low levels of school attendance and achievement. In spite of this, no improvement was found in the children’s nutritional status as reflected by weight for age. However small benefits were found in attendance and school achievements. These findings remained when sex, age, improvements over the previous term and the effects of “benevolent attention” were taken into account.