Majority of PEP students placed at preferred high schools

Judana Murphy, Gleaner Writer 

Eighty per cent of the 39,689 grade-six students exiting the primary-school system have been placed in one of their preferred high schools. 

Minister of Education Karl Samuda indicated that a further 16 per cent of students had been placed at a secondary institution near to their current primary school, while the remaining four per cent had been placed by home addresses. 

Owing to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, all components of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams were not administered. 

Sixth-graders were assessed using the Grade Four Numeracy and Literacy exams sat in 2018, the grade-five Performance Task exams of 2019, and the Ability Test done in February this year.

“After using several statistical models to test the multiple scenarios, the most equitable weighting for the placement of students in 2020 is as follows: grade four, 30 per cent; for grade five, we attributed 20 per cent; and grade six, 50 per cent,” Samuda said during a digital press conference this morning.

He added that in 2019 and 2020, 60 per cent of the students represented the national average. 

Placement results will be available at schools today at 2 p.m., and parents will be able to access results online Click here at 4 p.m. 

Other PEP data

* Eighty-four per cent of students on the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education were placed in a school of their choice.

*Forty-nine special-needs students were among the students placed in secondary institutions.  

*The PEP cohort comprised 20,157 males and 19,532 females. 

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