Abstract

PADILLA-MUNOZ, Andrea; RODRIGUEZ, Viviana; CASTRO, Sergio  and  GOMEZ-RESTREPO, Carlos. The frequency of disability amongst highschool students taking the standardised Colombian highschool leaving test (Saber 11) and a characterisation of their performance. rev.fac.med. [online]. 2012, vol.60, n.4, pp.275-284. ISSN 0120-0011.

Background. Taking the standardised Colombian highschool leaving test (Saber 11) is obligatory for students to graduate from high school and is also used for rating students applying to Colombian universities; it has been adapted for evaluating young people having hearing physical, visual and auditory disabilities. Objectives. Describing and characterising the profile of students suffering from disability (SWD) who presented the standardised Colombian highschool leaving test in 2009. Methods. A descriptive secondary analysis was made of the standardised Colombian highschool leaving test database concerning SWD who took the test in 2009. A disability certificate must have been obtained beforehand and presented during registration for the test. The prevalence of SWD taking the test was calculated, their scores were recorded and univariate statistics were used for the social, demographic and economic characterisation of their profile. Results. 529,651 students took the test for the first time in 2009; 0.2% (842) of these students claimed to have some type of disability during registration. 35.0% (295) of these had a motor disability, 34.9% (294) had a hearing disability and were assisted by a sign language interpreter, 19.1% (161) were visually impaired and 11.5% (97) had a hearing disability but did not receive assistance from a sign language interpreter. Most SWD achieved midranging scores; the visuallyimpaired scored higher points than the rest of the SWD. Conclusion. This study suggested that very few SWD were presenting the standardised Colombian highschool leaving test. Cognitive impairment could not be measured by this type of standardised test.

Keywords : Disabled person; hearing impaired person; physical disability; Colombia; School Admission Criteria.

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