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So far Mindspring has created 60 blog entries.

Study Skills Part 1: Time Management

2014-03-25T13:32:12+00:00

There is always so much to do and time never seems to stretch the way we want it to.  So often we get our exam results back and think… I could have studied more!  If you would like to get more done in less time, with more fun, then read on for Study Skills Part 1: Time Management. Hint 1: Sort out your nest!  That corner of your house where you like to burrow down and study?  It needs to be sorted.  It does not need any empty OR full snack packets.  It does not need last year’s notes and text [...]

Study Skills Part 1: Time Management2014-03-25T13:32:12+00:00

Attacking school data: Introducing a guide for ANA assessment data analysis

2014-03-14T09:27:11+00:00

Annual National Assessments (ANAs) now take place all the way through primary school (Grades 1-6) and also at grade 9. In the Western Cape – students also write provincial tests at Grade 3, 6, and 9 (called systemics or LitNum tests). While there is debate about the about these assessments – it is clear that far too many students perform poorly for us to be comfortable with the results. The Department of Basic Education Released the ANA Report 2013 in December and I am finally getting around to reading it. Predictably, the results make for pretty dismal reading.   […]

Attacking school data: Introducing a guide for ANA assessment data analysis2014-03-14T09:27:11+00:00

History or Geography? A surprise finding…

2014-03-12T11:07:20+00:00

The Department of Education has released their report on the 2013 National Senior Certificate.  The departmental push for increased bachelor passes as well as increased maths and physical science passes is evident throughout.  SAILI noted in our blog last week, that taking maths does not always help with gaining a matric pass (see our post: Maths or Maths Lit).  However, as a general trend, we are seeing stronger performance in maths and science with the maths pass rate up from 54% to 59.1% and the physical science pass rate up from 61.3% to 67.4%.   Probably the greatest surprise in the [...]

History or Geography? A surprise finding…2014-03-12T11:07:20+00:00

Maths or Maths Lit? Making sense of Matric subject selection.

2014-03-04T12:36:45+00:00

Inappropriate Matric subject selection in Grade 10 contributes to poor results and failures in Grade 12.  The most problematic subject is maths.  There has been a drive in recent years for more learners to take maths and hence improve our overall number of maths passes.  Due recognition is given to the crisis in scarce skills industries such as science and technology which rely on maths as a gateway subject to tertiary studies. When students who could do well in maths take maths lit we lose potential human capital. Equally we must also acknowledge that for the many learners taking maths (those [...]

Maths or Maths Lit? Making sense of Matric subject selection.2014-03-04T12:36:45+00:00

SAILI Matric Results 2013

2014-02-11T09:27:56+00:00

Sometimes it is hard to get a real sense of a school or initiative’s actual performance. With the Matric pass requirements so low (30 % for subjects and the license to fail a few too), reporting 100% pass rate is not really that helpful. More useful is the bachelors pass rate (which is only 100% in the very best schools) which does tend to give a much better perspective. Even these requirements are not that high – in short you need 50% in a four (mostly harder) subjects and not do too badly in the others (1 fail is acceptable). [...]

SAILI Matric Results 20132014-02-11T09:27:56+00:00

Bird’s eye view of the South African schooling system

2014-01-31T12:33:39+00:00

Ok – so I recently discovered the Department of Basic Education has what is called the Master List of schools available for download on its site. I have been poking at this and while it has a lot of data, most of it is structural: stating what district, circuit etc a school is in. No performance data here or segmentation of students by grade which would give one a sense of perspective on attrition but, nevertheless it is an interesting data source for looking at the South African schooling system and with the right tools and some time can be a [...]

Bird’s eye view of the South African schooling system2014-01-31T12:33:39+00:00

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