Right after the Easter break, the students in Form 3 and 4 at Archbishop Porter Girls Secondary School, along with all the other Form 3 and 4 students across Ghana, will begin taking the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations. All students at APGSS take exams in 8 different subjects, including their specialty subject, which is sort of like a college major, but in high school. The results on these exams will determine whether the students can go to college or university and which school they can attend. Tension is high because twice as many students as usual are taking the exams, since the government decided that senior secondary school should change from four years to three years.
The four pictures below show the exam schedule, which is the same across Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia. In contrast to standardized exams in the U.S., these exams test in almost every conceivable subject. And they are not only multiple choice, but also essay exams. In a way, they are most similar to our AP testing system, except with a much broader range of subjects.
You can see on this list that students can take exams in many subjects that we would consider vocational, like auto mechanics, typewriting and electronics. I also love that there are multiple tests on the local languages, like Dagaare, Dagbani, Ewe, Fante, Ga, Gonja, etc. Students can focus on local languages as a specialty in secondary school, if they're available at their school. Ultimately, Ghana wants all instruction in Kindergarten through third grade to be in students' local languages, so they need teachers who are experts in these languages.
Not all the subjects listed on this schedule are taught at every school. For instance, crop husbandry and horticulture is not available at APGSS. Gender is definitely a factor in what subjects are offered. We were told that home economics used to be offered everywhere, but is no longer offered at boys' schools.
You'll also see that students may focus on three different religious studies--Christianity, Islam or West African Traditional Religion. At least on the surface, the Ghanaian education system seems to value the diversity of its students more than the U.S. system does, especially in terms of the languages of instruction that are available. At the same time, though, here's a quote from a study guide for one of the social studies exams: "Factors that hinder the development of national identity include...the presence of different languages. In Ghana, every ethnic group has its own language or local dialects. The danger is that people tend to show more interest in...people they speak the same dialect/language with and neglect people who speak different languages...This will obviously hinder the development of national identity in Ghana."
One big difference from U.S. standardized testing is that there are practical exams as part of the WASSCE. The students at right and below are practicing for their home economics exams with the help of their teachers (who were on strike, by the way--not technically teaching classes, but around to support students).
There are also visual arts practicals in ceramics, sculpture, painting, mosaic art, and wood carving. The students get specific assignments from examiners, like, "create a set of salad bowls," or, "sculpt a woman's torso." And then they have a certain number of days to complete the project.
This student wood carver was being watched by an external examiner when I took this picture. For visual arts, the examiners look at process, examining the students' technique, as well as evaluating the final product.
The picture below shows Forms 1 and 2 taking internal school exams, but many of the paper and pencil WASSCE will be given in huge rooms like this.
While in general I'm not in favor of high-stakes testing, I do appreciate the fact that these exams give students a chance to exhibit skills in a broad range of areas and that students have some degree of choice about which exams to take.
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