The National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) has seen improvements across all four subject areas with the overall percentage of candidates achieving 50 per cent and above increasing to 63.7 per cent.
The 2026 results also saw Mathematics achieving a historic milestone, with 59.8 per cent of candidates earning 50 per cent or above, the highest national performance recorded in the subject.
Presenting the results yesterday, Director of Operations at the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Dr. Nicole Manning highlighted the continued improvement in student outcomes, noting that the gains reflected the impact of interventions being implemented within the education system.
For Mathematics, the percentage of candidates achieving 50 per cent and above increased from 55.51 per cent in 2025 to 59.8 per cent this year. The number of students receiving full marks also climbed from 472 to 627, while the number of candidates receiving zero marks declined to the lowest level recorded in five years.
“This speaks volume not only at this stage but also volume for what we know we will see in five years’ time,” Manning said, as she pointed to the importance of improved Mathematics performance for students’ future academic progression.
English Language recorded the highest overall performance among the four subjects, with candidates earning 50 per cent and above increasing from 69.25 per cent in 2025 to 73.08 per cent in 2026.
Manning said the subject also saw a sharp increase in full marks, with no candidate receiving a zero score.
Female candidates continued to outperform males in English, with females recording 70.38 per cent compared with 61.03 per cent for males.
Social Studies performance also improved, moving from 64.77 per cent of candidates achieving 50 per cent and above in 2025 to 65.28 per cent this year. The number of candidates achieving full marks increased from 53 to 110.
Science recorded a similar upward trend, with the percentage of candidates earning 50 per cent and above moving from 63.70 per cent to 65.38 per cent. Full marks increased from 227 candidates to 417.
The improvements follow a trend of gradual gains in student performance over recent years. In 2020, only 49 per cent of candidates achieved 50 per cent or higher across subjects, a figure which rose to 63.7 per cent in 2026.
Then Education Minister Priya Manickchand, during last year’s release of NGSA results, had highlighted the progress made in key subject areas, particularly Mathematics, noting that performance had increased significantly from 37.9 per cent of candidates achieving 50 per cent or above in 2015.
She had also pointed to improvements in English, Social Studies and Science, with performance rising over the years as the Ministry of Education expanded interventions aimed at improving learning outcomes.
At Friday’s announcement, CXC also highlighted improvements in the overall distribution of student performance. Manning said a larger number of candidates were moving into higher-performing quartiles, with 6,364 students now represented in the highest quartile group.
She said the mean performance across the four subjects also reflected steady progress, with English recording a mean score of 66.9 per cent, Social Studies 60.55 per cent, Science 62.55 per cent and Mathematics 58.53 per cent.
Manning explained that while the percentage of candidates scoring 50 per cent and above measures the number of students meeting that benchmark, the mean score reflects the overall performance of the entire cohort.
She also noted improvements among both male and female candidates between 2022 and 2026.
CXC’s Director of Operations said the results were supported by a rigorous examination and marking process, with 350 examiners and markers engaged across the four subjects requiring marking.
The process, she explained, included multiple levels of standardisation, monitoring and post-marking quality checks to ensure the reliability of the results.
Manning credited the achievement to the combined efforts of students, parents, teachers, principals and the Ministry of Education.
“Whatever the interventions that you are doing, you are having impact,” she said.
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