Majority of Year 6 students fare well in Benchmark tests

Half of the students sitting for the 2014 End of Primary Benchmark scored 70 or higher in English, Maltese and mathematics.

On the downside, 7% of all eligible students in Year 6 did not sit for the tests held at the end of May and beginning of June.

The schools participating in the session held in May and June included 62 State schools, 22 Church schools and seven independent schools. Among them were three new Church schools which participated for the first time this year.

Results show that 50% of the candidates who sat for the 2014 End of Primary Benchmark scored 79 marks or more in Maltese, 73 marks or more in English and 70 marks or more in Mathematics.

The number of children who sat for these assessments was 3,733, 1729 males (46%) and 2004 females (54%) which totalled to 93% of the whole cohort of children in Year 6.

Candidates were assessed in three subjects; Maltese, English and mathematics. 

In Maltese, candidates were assessed in Speaking (20 marks), Listening Comprehension component (20 marks), Reading Comprehension component (30 marks) and Writing component (30 marks).

The national medians were as follows: 17 for the Oral component, 18 for the listening comprehension component, 24 for the reading comprehension component and 20 for the writing component. The national median for Maltese was 79.

In English, students were assessed in the same components as in Maltese and the national medians were as follows: 17 for the Oral component, 17 for the listening comprehension component, 22 for the reading comprehension component and 17 for the writing component.  The national median for English was 73.

Mathematics had two components: the mental component (20 marks) and the written component (80 marks). The national median for the mental component was 16, whilst that for the Written component was 54, with the total national median for Mathematics being 70.  

Each Benchmark script was blind marked by two markers. A total of 112 markers were involved in this exercise: 44 for Maltese, 40 for English and 28 for Mathematics.

 The results were sent to schools in the first week of July and they were sent to all the candidates on 7 July 2014. 

The results included the marks that the candidate scored in the different components of the three subjects in the Benchmark as well as the national medians for each component and for each subject. This was to enable parents to compare their child’s performance in each subject with the national median.

A number of information and discussion meetings about the Benchmark were held in Malta and Gozo with parents, teachers and Heads of School.