Secondary school leaving evaluation in Newfoundland, 1972-1976

Bull, Norman Lloyd. (1977) Secondary school leaving evaluation in Newfoundland, 1972-1976. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (23MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

The major secondary school leaving evaluation in Newfoundland since June 1972 has been a system of shared evaluation between each school and the Department of Education. The Department of Education awards 50 percent of the students' final grades through the Public Examinations held in June of each year. The school awards the remaining 50 percent by a variety of in-school evaluation procedures. -- The purpose of this study was to determine, as far as possible, the degree to which shared evaluation has achieved its aim of providing a more valid assessment of student achievement while at the same time maintaining quality control and permitting a broadening of the curriculum. The study investigated trends in the distribution of mean marks and pass rates both for the school grades and the Public Examination grades. The final part of the study dealt with a questionnaire survey of 151 teachers in 53 randomly selected schools. The purpose of this survey was to collect data on school practices and teacher opinion regarding shared evaluation. The study covered the years from 1972 to 1976 for the four subjects, algebra, history, English and biology. -- Although the conclusions were confounded by a number of factors it appears that there is a general decline in mean marks and pass rates in the Public Examinations but not in the school examinations. Also the estimated magnitude of differences between schools expected due to random errors is much smaller than the differences permitted by the Department of Education. The results of the teacher survey indicated that the teachers are generally satisfied with shared evaluation and that the majority want no change at the present time.

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