THE already dismal pass rates in mathematics at both the primary and secondary school levels are in further decline, officials involved in the education transformation process revealed on Monday.

Only one in nine students in the grade 11 cohort were successful in mathematics in last year's school-leaving Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams, while the average score in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) is under 50 per cent and falling, the officials said.
The acute shortage of specialist math teachers at all levels of the system is partly to blame, educators gathered at a national math workshop learned.

"Less than 12 per cent of the (grade 11) age cohort is attaining passing grades of one to three. This is poor, this is unacceptable", said Frank Weeple, executive director of the Education Transformation Team. He was speaking at the conference entitled 'Numeracy Counts' at the Hilton Kingston Hotel.

National mathematics co-ordinator, Tamika Benjamin said the national average in GSAT mathematics fell from 53 per cent in 2006 to 46 per cent in2007. She said 49 of the more than 800 primary schools averaged below 30 per cent, while only 135 averaged above 50 per cent. Benjamin said only 14 per cent of the age cohort achieved passing grades in CSEC math last year.

Reasons given for the poor performance included large class sizes, overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of trained math teachers, inefficient teaching methods and inadequate resource materials.

The national math strategy has set a number of targets including increasing the GSAT average by 10 per cent over two years; increasing the CSEC pass rate to at least 45 per cent; and increasing the number of students sitting CSEC maths by at least 2,000 candidates in two years.

The strategy will involve the clustering of schools in groups of three to seven to create learning communities, professional development workshops, cluster- based specialist math teachers, school-based math specialists for schools in critical need, fortnightly workshops for teachers, and math camps for students during summer.

Weeple underscored the importance of mathematics to national and personal development.

"Economic data shows strong correlation between countries that demonstrate fast economic growth and their mathematical performance...Research shows persons without math skills are less likely to be employed or promoted, or to receive further training," he noted.

The poor performance in math at the secondary level is having an effect on the quality of students being trained as math teachers, Weeple said. "We must focus on the issues of recruitment, retention and remuneration of teachers," he said.