The National Trial of the New Standardised Test of Achievement in Primary Science for Fiji: A Comparison of Sub-Groups Performances Within the Sample Population

The development of the new standardised test of achievement in primary science for Fiji was reported in a previous issue of this journal (Taylor & Macpherson 1992a). Since then a national trial of the test has provided data on the comparative performance of various groups within the school population. The study revealed a marked difference in performance between urban and rural students but no significant difference between male and female students. Perhaps most importantly, however, and contrary to the findings of other studies with older students, there was no significant difference in the performance of two major ethnic groups: Indigenous Fijians and Ethnic Indians. In the light of these results a number of recommendations are suggested for further research in this area.