Technical Resources

Formal public education in Jamaica is offered to the 4 to 18+ age cohort through early childhood or pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary level institutions. At the early childhood level enrolment favours males. Primary education is offered in 3 types of schools and, overall, enrolment at this level also favours males (51.1%). Secondary education is offered in 5 types of schools and, at this level, overall there is a slight gender gap faouring females. Compared with the secondary level, enrolment for both sexes declines dramatically at the tertiary level but, overwhelmingly, favours females (67.3%). At the highest level of the education system where policy and decisions that govern the system are determined, there is an approximate 1.5:1 female to male ratio and females are, therefore, well represented in decision-making structures of the system. In the general teaching force there is approximately a 3.3:1 female/male ratio. In spite of the fact that proportionately, females are more highly qualified than males, as a percentage of their group, males are more highly represented in principal positions than are females. The Mission Statement of the MOEY&C speaks to the need to ‘provide quality education for all persons’ and one of the strategic objectives makes reference to ‘securing teaching and learning opportunities that will optimize access, equity and relevance throughout the education system’. In relation to gender, an explicit concern is expressed in relation to apparent male disadvantage in the system. Data, related to both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of the educational experience at all levels, however, point to clear gender differentials that affect both sexes and which need to be addressed through precise, evidence-based policy positions.

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Multigrade schools combine students of different ages and different abilities in one classroom, under the
direction of one teacher. Multigrade schools are supported by a number of World Bank projects. The purpose of
this paper is to increase staff awareness of the complexity of such components and of the scope for economic and pedagogical benefits that can be derived if such components are properly designed. The paper aims to give staff a clear picture of what multigrade teaching involves, and to help them acquire the tools to assess under what circumstances multigrade teaching should be promoted. It stresses the point that building a successful multigrade school program involves much more than providing hardware and developing administrative structures: pedagogical techniques and outcomes form the core of multigrade teaching.


Multigrade instruction is a reality in both developing and industrialized countries. But current systems of
administration and teacher preparation tend to ignore it, with consequences for the whole educational system.
Educational administrators must focus more on strategies that affect actual teacher behavior, and changing the way teachers view themselves and are viewed by central authorities. The teacher's role should be one of a resource person, a manager and facilitator of the learning process.

There are four critical elements to consider in supporting multigrade schools, the first of which is the most
important:

(1) teachers need to adopt more effective teaching practices to make multigrade schools function
properly;

(2) to do so, they require adequate material and physical inputs of which programmed learning materials
and textbooks are of overwhelming importance;

(3) local and regional support networks need to be developed among
teachers; and

(4) there must be national level support for pilot programs, including both financial support and active
involvement of a few key multigrade advocates. National level policy decisions with regard to teacher and
administratort raining, teacher recruitmenta nd support, and materialsd evelopmenta nd supplyt o support multigrade schools become unavoidable when the pilot program leads to large scale expansion.

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UNESCO
February 1, 2001

Every child has a right to an education. Multi-grade classes and single teacher schools have made it possible for many children in remote rural areas and communities to exercise this right. These classes exist in both developing and developed countries. In countries such as Norway and France, they have worked reasonably well.
However, in many developing countries, these classes and schools often lack educational materials, appropriately trained teachers and effective supervision. The teachers rarely receive training in how
to deal with them, and are ill-prepared for managing large numbers of pupils, of different ages and levels of learning, that they confront in the classes.

If progress is to be made towards Education for All, the challenges of multi-grade classes and single teacher schools must be urgently met. Children in small communities must have access to good quality education.

To this end, in cooperation with various institutions, UNESCO conducted a series of case studies in fourteen countries namely: Australia, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, China, Korea, France, Greece, Lesotho, Mali, the Philippines, Portugal, Tanzania, Russia and Zaire. Following this experience, UNESCO, jointly with the Royal Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs in Norway, initiated a programme to enhance the effectiveness of multi-grade classes and single-teacher schools. On the basis of information gained through the case studies, an interregional workshop on “Single-Teacher Schools and Multi-grade classes” was held in Lilleham-mer, .N orway 2 to 6 September 1996.

The participants were drawn from the countries in which the studies were undertaken. Norway was considered an apt partner because of its long history of offering education in small effective schools. The participants discussed the issues of multi-grade classes and single teacher schools and decided that it was necessary to prepare a handbook based on the experiences of the countries. The two volumes of this handbook reflect the shared experiences of the workshop. They are not intended to replace existing materials in use in formal teacher education courses, but for use in the in-service training of teachers working in multi-grade schools, and as a handy daily reference book for them.

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Raj Chetty
December 1, 2011

Are teachers' impacts on students' test scores ("value-added") a good measure of their quality? This question has sparked debate largely because of disagreement about (1) whether value-added (VA) provides unbiased estimates of teachers' impacts on student achievement and (2) whether high-VA teachers improve students' long-term outcomes. We address these two issues by analyzing school district data from grades 3-8 for 2.5 million children linked to tax records on parent characteristics and adult outcomes. We find no evidence of bias in VA estimates using previously unobserved parent characteristics and a quasi-experimental research design based on changes in teaching staff. Students assigned to high-VA teachers are more likely to attend college, attend higher-ranked colleges, earn higher salaries, live in higher SES neighborhoods, and save more for retirement. They are also less likely to have children as teenagers. Teachers have large impacts in all grades from 4 to 8. On average, a one standard deviation improvement in teacher VA in a single grade raises earnings by about 1% at age 28. Replacing a teacher whose VA is in the bottom 5% with an average teacher would increase the present value of students' lifetime income by more than $250,000 for the average classroom in our sample. We conclude that good teachers create substantial economic value and that test score impacts are helpful in identifying such teachers.

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The Dudley Grant Memorial Trust
Ministry of Education
July 22, 2010

The Resource Book has been compiled to assist you, the practitioners and other relevant stakeholders, with your curricular activity plans. It is a supplemental guide that accompanies the Jamaica Early Childhood Curriculum For Children Birth to Five Years Old. One of the considerations that guided the development and design of the curriculum was the need to “emphasize holistic development and integrated curriculum approaches that allow children to express themselves creatively by using all their senses to acquire new knowledge, skills and competencies as well as to engage in independent learning”, (Davies, 2008, Conceptual Framework, p.2). Furthermore, “play is central to curriculum practice, as it allows children to be active learners, interacting with a wide variety of materials and engaging with projects and learning centres in the process. Varied approaches to play and different methods of learning are encouraged…” (p.6). The Resource Book has been developed with these principles in mind. The activities outlined within it are interactive and child-centred and promote the active participation of children.

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January 1, 2008

Best Practices for early childhood development were documented. Appropriate and inappropriate practices identified for the following sections:
• Best Practices for Working with Families
• Best Practices for Interactions and Relationships
• Best Practices for Schedule, Routines and Transitions
• Best Practices for Environments
• Best Practices for Planning for Curriculum

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Kathleen V. Hoover - Dempsey and Howard M. Sandler

This paper presents a model for parental involvement. Issues related to parental role construction for involvement, parental sense of efficacy for helping their child succeed in school and parental perception of invitation for involvement are discussed. In addition, recommendations for school action are identified.

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Dory Lightfoot
January 1, 2004

This article looks at the way language subtly shapes and constrains the way we perceive reality. It examines one term—parental involvement. This apparently simple and democratic term serves as a portfolio of meanings that separate and divide. It illustrates two of these meanings, which take the form of a conjoined metaphor of “full/empty,” or “lacking/having.”

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Douglas B. Downey
October 1, 2004

This study builds on Heyns (1978) by focusing on the students in kindergarten – at the beginning of their school life. The authors found a substantial gap between students from low income and high income families. They conclude that “for students in a typical school, the non-school environment encourages advantaged children to pull ahead, but the school environment helps disadvantaged children to catch up” (p. 623).

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Elaine Foster Allen
National Education Inspectorate
November 1, 2010

The First Chief Inspector's Report on Education in Jamaica

In 2010, the National Education Inspectorate (NEI) completed its first round of inspections on 30 public schools at the primary and secondary level. By highlighting the strengths and weakness of the approaches and practices of these schools, valuable feedback and lessons are encapsulated in this comprehensive report.

The report focused on 8 key indicators of school effectiveness:

  1. Leadership and management
  2. Teaching and learning
  3. Students' performance in regional and national examinations
  4. Students' progress in relation to their starting point
  5. Personal and social development
  6. Human and material resources
  7. Safety, security and well-being

The Evidence

The NEI observed over 1100 lessons across thirty schools (23 at the primary level and 7 secondary), 60 percent were Mathematics and English Language classes and the remaining were lessons from across the other areas of the curriculum. The Inspectors also conducted 321 interviews with staff: principals, vice principals, guidance counselors and senior teachers as well as 123 on-site interviews with students during the course of these inspections.

In addition, 6275 students responded to the Inspectorates student satisfaction survey, two thousand seven-hundred and eighty-four (2,784) parents gave their perception of their children's school and 499 teachers expressed their views about the teaching and learning culture and leadership in their institution.

Key Findings

It is at the Primary level that leadership is weakest. Of the twenty-three schools inspected, thirteen were rated as unsatisfactory on all components and eight were considered as satisfactory. Only in one Primary school was the leadership and management assessed as good. The report noted that leadership was weakest in those schools where the principal failed to demonstrate focused strategic and instructional leadership and did not hold staff accountable. In one such school the inspectors noted that although the principal had a good relationship with staff, she failed to hold them accountable for improving student performance. The team noted that in these instances:

The leadership lacks the rigor and drive needed to improve teaching and students' achievements and progress. The Principal's and teachers' low expectations of the current and potential performance of individual students and groups of students contribute to the Principal giving limited direction and guidance to teachers with the goal of improving standards. Insufficient energy is placed on instructional leadership which holds teachers accountable for the impact of their teaching on students' learning.

According to the findings, self evaluation, which is critical to improvement planning has not been "fully embraced by the school management culture" and was evidently deficient at both primary and secondary levels. The report noted that "insufficient use of data allows many members of staff to remain unaware of the extent of poor performance" (p. 26). The implementation of effective tracking systems was identified as a problem that plagued many of the schools. Specifically, action goals tended to be too wide, next steps needed to be identified and limited monitoring of the progress toward goals. Conversely, those who were successful in this regard had clear, measureable goals and strong emphasis on teaching and learning.

The report found that at the primary level where teachers function as generalists, their knowledge of subject areas was weakest whereas the reverse was evident in secondary level teachers who function as subject specialists. However, in terms of students' progress in relation to their starting point, the primary level was rated as satisfactory, while performance on this indicator at the secondary level varied depending on school type.

In approximately half of the schools inspected, the curriculum and enhancement programmes supported learning effectively and scored satisfactorily or higher on the safety, security and well-being indicator.

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