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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Education Report. |
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Entrance examinations have been causing problems and confusion |
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at the University of Liberia in Monrovia. |
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The exams help to decide whom the University |
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will accept as a student. |
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The problems begin after an education specialist James Dorbor-Jallah |
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was named to direct and administer the testing. |
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Recently, about 25,000 high school students took the test but failed. |
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Mr Dorbor-Jallah says, he and his team want to show |
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that a fair, honest examination can be helped. |
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He says some Liberian think they cannot enter the university |
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unless they make a financial gift in return. |
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He said the University has been trying to decide |
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how to oversee the process, |
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so people's abilities would be measured |
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on the basis of their performances on the examination. |
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Last year, the University of Liberia |
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accepted about 7,000 new students after they took a similar exam. |
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But that test was judged differently. |
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Mr Dorbor-Jallah says the university sought his help |
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because it had problems in the past with entrance exams. |
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The country's Minister of Education says she does not think |
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that all 25,000 high school students failed the test. |
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Some of the students have held protests at the university. |
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They say they were cheated of the more than 20 dollars required |
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to register for the test. |
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It appeared that the university would have no first year students |
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until Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf mad with university officials. |
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The officials then said they would lower admission test requirements |
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and accept at least 1,600 people. |
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President Sirleaf said the school could not be expected |
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to reform it's admission policies so soon |
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after the end of Liberia's second civil war. |
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The fighting ended 10 years ago. |
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He blamed conditions caused by the fighting for what he has called |
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"the mess" in the country's educational system. |
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Mr Dorbor-Jallah says he promised the university |
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that his team would document the testing process |
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so anyone could get the same results as his team. |
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Mr Dorbor-Jallah says that like earlier tests, |
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the 2013 entrance exam was based on the Ministry of Education curriculum. |
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But he also says that the most recent test results were based on raw scores. |
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A raw score does not provide any grading assistance |
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like a curve based on the performances of a group of students. |
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He said 308 of the more than 25,000 students |
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did meet 50 percent success in math. |
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But he said no student was able to gain 70 percent in English. |
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And that's the Education Report from VOA Learning English. |