Ranking in exams can be beneficial if it is designed to inspire students to excel

What you need to know:

  • Naturally, no parent would knowingly send their child to a school that is struggling academically.
  • Little known Nyakemincha Primary School in Nyamira, which had the dubious distinction of being the poorest performing school in the 2011 KCPE examination, attracted the attention and concern of the whole community. Thanks to intervention, the school is now improving.
  • A more complex method could be used to classify secondary schools. It should take into consideration the student’s score from primary school. It would make better sense to rank the teachers rather than the students.

For years, Kenyans have been regaled with TV and newspaper reports on the performance of candidates when national examination results are announced.

And as expected, last Monday was celebration galore for candidates who performed well in the 2014 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination. Schools that improved their performance were also ecstatic.

However, the celebration was somewhat muted because candidates and schools were not ranked

So, the question is, is it bad to list the best and the worst performing schools and students? Judging from the reaction of the proprietors of many private institutions to the ban, it is safe to say that many of these schools thrived on the ranking.

The schools attracted new students based on their performance. Others suffered as students left if they did not feature on the list of the finest. Naturally, no parent would knowingly send their child to a school that is struggling academically. And they relied on national examination ranking to identify “good” schools.

RANKING NOT ALL BAD

Ranking is not all bad and sometimes it can be useful. For example, little known Nyakemincha Primary School in Nyamira, which had the dubious distinction of being the poorest performing school in the 2011 KCPE examination, attracted the attention and concern of the whole community. Thanks to intervention, the school is now improving.

The proponents of ranking insist that it is a brilliant idea that fosters healthy competition. However, the flipside is that in their desire to be listed among the top performers, many private schools stand accused of employing unorthodox means.

This includes having parallel candidate classes in affiliate schools. The streams that perform well are registered under the school’s flagship for purposes of marketing the institution.

Competition is an integral part of the Kenyan spirit and it is ingrained in the psyche of every citizen, be it in sports, politics, business, or even in education. So, before ranking is discarded completely, there is a need to thoroughly weigh its advantages and disadvantages.

Methods that factor in the conditions and learning environment of various categories of schools can be adopted so that, as one fierce critic of the ranking system appropriately put it recently, we do not continue comparing the incomparable.

CLASSIFICATION FACTORS

Primary schools can be classified using factors such as private or public, hardship areas, student to teacher ratio, physical environment, infrastructure, day or boarding school, availability of electricity, and student/book ratio. This way, the schools ranked in a particular category are playing on a relatively level field. Statisticians and researchers should be tasked with generating a formula that is inclusive and would ensure balance and equity.

A more complex method could be used to classify secondary schools. It should take into consideration the student’s score from primary school. It would make better sense to rank the teachers rather than the students.

The teachers who are able to help a student improve their primary school score to get a better grade at the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination should earn their schools more points.

Conversely, those whose students’ score drops lose their schools points. Also, schools that offer additional technical subjects such as art, technical drawing, home science, agriculture, and computer studies should earn bonus marks.

INSPIRE POSITIVE COMPETITION

Ranking of schools is not a bad idea if it is done in such a way as to inspire positive competition. We should encourage hard work and also strive to identify our children’s strengths and talents even outside academics.

The most successful people are not necessarily the top scorers in primary and secondary school national examinations.

Every sector of our economy has its unique way of rating performance. Agriculture, for example, could be judged from the harvest, sports from the number of medals and trophies earned, transport from the number of road accidents, security from the level of crime, and trade from GDP.

Education standards can only be judged from the quality of the students who transition from one level to another.
Mr Mwasi is acting chief executive officer, Kenya Yearbook Editorial Board. ([email protected]).