Two-thirds of primary school students falling short in reading, writing and maths

Less than a third of primary school students in Cayman hit the expected standard for reading, writing and maths in the last academic year, according to a new Department of Education Services report.

The report highlights improvements in secondary school results compared with the previous year. But still less than half of Year 11 students are hitting target metrics for exam performance.

Meanwhile, school attendance fell to its lowest point in a decade last year – something that was attributed to the lingering impact of the pandemic.

Exam performance remains an ongoing challenge nationally at both primary and secondary level.

Year 11 students rebound

In Year 11 – the year that students finish high school before going on to the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre to retake exams, pursue vocational studies or move on to A-Levels  – there was some improvement.

Community members expressed concern last year about students’ academic performances.

Only 37.5% of government secondary school students met the minimum national expected standard of five subjects at level two (C grade or above), including English and mathematics.

In 2022-23, students raised that figure to 48.5%.

High-achieving students increased their numbers as well.

A total of 32.9% earned honours with at least seven level two subjects, including English and mathematics, in 2021-22. In 2022-23, a total of 38.5% surpassed the standard.

Primary school struggles in key subjects

At the primary level, only 26% of students met expectations for reading, writing and mathematics in the KS2 Standard Assessment Tests in 2022-23, a one percentage point drop compared to the previous year.

And none of those three key core subjects had an individual pass rate higher than 50%.

The results represent little change from previous years.

“The chart highlights minor fluctuations in performance across various subject areas, but the overall variance remains relatively stable,” the report states.

‘Modest’ improvement

While the average of most secondary schools was a “modest but noteworthy” improvement, attendance at the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre led to a slight dip in national attendance.

Last year, the Department of Education Services reported an overall average attendance in government schools was about 88.9% for the 2021-22. The recently released report for the 2022-23 academic year put that figure at 88.4%.

“This attendance rate, while generally consistent within the overall attendance for the academic year 2021-22, is significantly below the national expectation of the 95% rate defined by Office of Education Standards,” the report states.

While attendance exceeded 90% at primary schools, it remains low at the secondary level, at 86.5%. The report states that the low attendance at the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre significantly affects the overall statistics.

“At the national level, excluding CIFEC, the attendance graph exhibits a significant uptrend, averaging 90.2% over the analysed period,” the report said.

The report attributed part of the three-year dip to the “lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent respiratory illnesses”.