This longitudinal study follows a cohort of 1,000 students enrolled in public and private schools in Sierra Leone over a period of three years. It looks at what is learned (diagnostic) and how much progress is made, both in respect of gains in average percentage scores, but more importantly, through subjecting data to latent transitional analysis, the transitions (progressive, regressive, or static) made by the weakest performing groups across performance bands.
The study employs the use of a computer adaptive test (CAT) to assess students three times a year. The tests are administered on IPADS and individual results are generated and uploaded to a server immediately after the students have taken the assessment. We will look in this paper at data from 5 test occasions.
Learning, for the purposes of this study is described as making gains in: reading – that is, in vocabulary and understanding the meaning of words, comprehension (lexical and grammatical knowledge combined with attaching meaning to the written word, sentence or passage), responding (bringing individual experience and knowledge of the world to the text), and analysing (stepping back from the meaning of the text and considering it in relation to other theories and literary traditions and intentions of the author).
Making gains in mathematics – that is, in operations and algebraic thinking (whole numbers addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and evaluation of numerical expressions), number and operations (fractions and decimals), and measurement and data (time, money, geometry), amongst others.
Personal growth and independence – that is, how learners engage with the learning process and become more independent, critical and self-aware. How they reflect on the teaching they receive, their own attitudes and dispositions towards learning, and their own learning progress.
The paper looks at the intersections of students’ growth in cognition and their personal growth and development.
