Relationships between academic performance of Lower sixth form students and research variables

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter identifies and states the problem which this study seeks to probe. It also presents the significance and objectives of the study. It is therefore important to note that although considerable efforts have been made to improve Lower sixth form students’ academic performance and retention, students’ success in the Unit 1 CAPE examination continues to vary. The inability to connect the socialization effective domain in student academic performance has resulted in poorly prepared students in society.

Secondary education in Trinidad and Tobago has been significantly expanded in the Post-Independence era. This was articulated in the 1968-1983 Education Plan. As a consequence, there was large-scale construction of junior, senior secondary and senior comprehensive schools. In addition, there are five-years, seven-years and private secondary schools. In the these five and seven years secondary schools, measures of academic performance at the school and individual level have always been calculated using grades in examinations such as CXC at Form Five Level and CAPE at Sixth Form Level across the country.

The CAPE examinations, which replaced the Cambridge Advanced level examination, is today used as the main basis for judging a student’s ability and also as a means of selection for educational advancement and employment. Annually, hundreds of secondary school students write the Caribbean Proficiency Examination (CAPE). All students admitted to sixth forms have on an average a good CXC certificate of five or more subjects which is an indication of their ability and performance. To be admitted into sixth form at all secondary schools, the Ministry of Education in Trinidad and Tobago has stipulated the following:

• A student must not be become 20 years old during the calendar year of entry;
• A student must have obtained a minimum of Grade C in English Language “O” level or Grade I in C.X.C. General Proficiency exam; and
• A student must have obtained 4 other “O” level passes or Grade II in the C.X.C. General Proficiency will be accepted if there is at least one A in the grade profile.

Lower sixth form students write an examination at the end of their first year. The results of this examination have revealed that some students are more successful than others at this level. Although students may have comparable abilities, been schooled in the same environment and follow the same syllabus, there still exists variation in their educational performance. A student who performs poorly will not be able to gain admission into University, since matriculation policy stipulates higher grades.

It is fair to say that school-aged children are assured of equality of access to secondary school. In society the agents of socialization have had differential impacts on the lives of young children and teenagers. If this is the case, there is a need therefore to examine very closely the educational performance and life chances of individual students. The interest of this research therefore, focuses on how socialization variables can be associated with the variations in the educational performance of Lower Six Form students who are 17- 20 years old. These students are assumed to be self-motivated when it comes to succeeding at the CAPE Unit 1 examination. The situation is debateable and can have serious social ramifications for the society as a whole.

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The variation in academic performance has its genesis in students’ early educational socialization. Research has shown that early years of exposure to Mathematics and English Language creates the foundation for later academic performance. If students enter kindergarten at a disadvantage, early gaps in understandings of literacy or mathematics tend to be sustained or widened over time (Aunola et al 2004). Research further shows this phenomenon is particularly true for children from lower income households (McLoyd and Purtell 2008). What parents can do with their children at home has far greater significance than any other factor open to educational influence (Tucker 2010). Similarly, Wood and Attfield (2005) argued that early years were particularly important for developing children’s ability and enthusiasm in mathematics.

TABLE 1: VARIATIONS IN CSEC MATH GRADES FROM EACH SCHOOL 2011.

SOURCE: CARIBBEAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS 2011

TABLE 2: VARIATIONS IN CSCE ENGLISH GRADES FROM EACH SCHOOL. 2011

SOURCE: CARIBBEAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS 2011

The results of the CAPE Unit 1 examinations (see Figure 1) can therefore be assumed to be indicators of early childhood socialization to the above subject matter. It can therefore be further hypothesized that students who did well at CSEC examinations would do well at the CAPE Unit 1 examinations based on their early socialization which will include the involvement of the independent variables of the study.

FIGURE: 1

SOURCE: CARIBBEAN EXAMINATION COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS 2012

The data in Figure (1) revealed that the type of secondary school that students attend has a significant part to play in their academic performance. In other words, the home is the primary socializing agent where the desire for an education is internalized while the school, as the the secondary socializing agent (Parsons 1951) is where the students fulfilled that internalized desire with the help of the family and teachers. This dissertation will argue that the variation in Lower sixth form students’ academic performance is dependent on their individual socialization.

1.2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Educational data in Trinidad and Tobago has revealed that some students are performing better than others at the Lower sixth form CAPE Unit 1 examination (See Figure 2, which represents a distribution of; grades one, two and three from 2005 to 2011). The percentage pass rates for Unit 1 ranged from between 57% and 63.5%. The pass rates for these same students at Caribbean Examination Council level (CXC) Examination was higher. This paradox reveals a disparity in academic performance of these students between the CAPE Unit I level and the CXC level. This results in a variation in the grades’ distribution within and among these secondary schools. The existence of a variation in educational performance for this examination has become a serious social phenomenon which can later create adverse educational imbalances among and between the different groups within the society. If, left unchecked, one can imagine the ramification this problem can have for the social stability of the society. This examines how specific socializing variables can be implicated in the socialization of lower sixth form students. Psychology has shown that everyone is born with some potential, or abilities which could be utilized to the optimum for the development of their personal life. Therefore, all lower sixth form students may be exposed to the same teachers and the same conditions in the school, yet, there are remarkable differences in their academic performance at the Unit 1 examination of CAPE.

FIGURE 2. Units I and II: Grades I-III ranged between 52.1% and 65.5%

SOURCE: CARIBBEAN EXAMINATION COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS 2011

1.3. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This research is significant for both practical and scientific reasons. From the practical significant point of view, the study will help explain the behaviour associated with the variation in academic performance at the Lower sixth form Unit 1 level Caribbean Proficiency Examination (CAPE) in terms of the socializing variables in the form of parents’ socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, peer group’s influence and parental involvement in students’ academic performance. Each is believed to play a major role in the socialization of Lower sixth form students and ultimately, the education process. Each of us proceeds through life in a manner we often believe is under our immediate control and influence. It seems logical that the actions we take and the impact of those actions is based upon a series of logical, rational, and emotionally loaded decisions influenced by choice and chance. Although this seems a reasonable manner in which to assess one’s lot in life, it is far from reality, particularly in the area of education. Children have equal opportunities to do the same subjects and extra-curricular activities. They have similarly qualified teachers and they study these subjects for the same length of time (i.e. five years for CXC). The idea that each child enters school with the same opportunities that foster success is not a valid assumption. This is particularly true of the formative years from preschool through secondary school where the impact of these socializing forces can vary dramatically from person to person, depending on their life circumstances and social class status.

1.4. Objective of the Study

• To investigate the socializing relationships, between academic performance of Lower sixth form students and socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, peer group, and parental involvement?
• To what extent are these research variables; academic performance, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, peer group, and parental involvement are mutally influential in the socializing of Lower sixth form students.

1.5. Definition of Important Terms

Academic performance: refers to the overall excellence in all academic disciplines; represented in this study as an average of 50% pass mark in each subject.

Academics: refer to student dispositions on school and grades and can be influenced by adult expectations

Adolescence: refers to the period that begins with the onset of puberty and ends somewhere around age 18 or 20. In this research, adolescent is used interchangeabley with teenager and young adult. The study’s main focus will be on adolescents between 17 and 20 years of age.

Achievement motivation: refers to the striving to increase or to keep as high as possible, one’s own capabilities in all activities in which a standard of excellence is thought to apply and where the execution of such activities can, therefore either succeed or fail (Heckhausen 1967). Parental involvement is very crucial for achievement motivation.

Race/Ethnicity: in this study will be used interchangeably. However ethnicity which is assumed to share common cultural practices and history will also include religion.

Extreme cases: In this study refer to those lower sixth form students who have acquired grade four and under in the Unit 1 CAPE examination.

Gender: the significance a society attaches to biological categories of female and male. In this study it will be used interchangeably with sex.

Mass media: impersonal communication directed toward a vast audience. In this case, the internet and the games associated with it.

Parental involvement: in this research refers to the things that parents do to form behaviours that are directed toward children’s academic performance.

Peer group: a social group whose members have interests, social positions and ages in common. In this study, peer group will include all individuals with similar demographic characteristics.

Religion: a social institution involving beliefs and practices based upon the conception of the sacred. It will also be included in the definition for ethnicity.

Sex: refers to the biological distinction between females and males. In this study it will be used interchangeably with gender.

Socialization: refers to the lifelong social experience by which individuals develop human potential and learn patterns of their culture.

Socio-economic status: refers to a composite ranking based on education, and occupation

Social class: In Trinidad and Tobago, the upper class refers to the highest socioeconomic bracket in the social hierarchy and is defined by its members’ great wealth and power. Members of the upper class accumulate wealth through investments and capital gains, rather than through annual salaries. Households with net worths of $1 million or more may be identified as members of the upper-most socioeconomic demographic. The middle class is divided into the upper middle class and the middle middle class. The upper middle class consists of highly educated salaried professionals whose occupations are held in high esteem, such as attorneys, engineers, and professors. The middle middle class is generally thought to include people in the mid-level managerial positions or relatively low status professional positions, such as school teachers, nurses, policemen, and small business owners. The working class generally refers to those without university degrees, who perform low income service work, such as sales clerk, domestic worker and include most people whose income falls below the poverty line.

Variation: the extent to which the Unit 1 examination results vary as it relates to each student’s academic performance.