Education ministry moves to help poor grade four test performers

THE Ministry of Education has begun its intervention into six primary schools that performed poorly in the most recent Grade Four Literacy Test. The schools are: Mount Vernon Primary in St Thomas; Rose Hill Primary in Manchester; as well as Wanstead Primary and Infant School, Juan de Bolas Primary, Hamwalk Primary, and Springvale Primary, all in St Catherine.Mount Vernon Primary, Rose Hill Primary, Wanstead Primary and Infant, Juan de Bolas Primary and Hamwalk Primary all failed to achieve any mastery on the test. Springvale Primary attained only 17 per cent mastery.Now six months since the students sat the test in 2011 and more than a month since the results were made public, regional literacy co-ordinators have made contact with the schools' principals and in some cases, other members of the institutions' administrative and academic staff. National literacy co-ordinator Andre Hill told Career & Education that the regional literacy co-ordinators have already met with the schools' administrators to review the results as well as the history of the schools' performance and to hear firsthand their concerns and issues regarding the students' performance. He noted that the discussions have taken place in the broader context of the children's social background, parental support and other potential limitations, which contribute to their poor performance. "Now, out of that will emerge the plans -- special intervention plans -- that would be geared towards meeting the specific needs of the students within the particular schools in question and this will not be done in isolation," Hill told Career & Education.He said the plans will speak not only to the literacy needs of the students, but will also take into account the social support that the students have been receiving, plus, the possibility of learning disabilities in some of the students. "In addition to that, we have to pay attention to whether, in some instances, the students might be physically deprived in terms of nutritional support and other health-related issues. So, in terms of the intervention, we are not going to take the simplistic approach where we say they have failed the Grade Four Literacy Test and therefore we now have to pay particular attention to how they are going to improve in that test," Hill noted. "The fact is that they cannot improve in it unless several variables which have negatively impacted their development and their performance over the years up to grade four have been sufficiently addressed," he added. Hill pointed out that the special intervention programme would have two elements -- one focused on the grade one to four level and the other on the children who failed in 2011 and have gone on to grade five.He said he anticipates that the response of schools to the programme will be favourable since the approach of the national literacy team is supportive and not incriminatory or condemnatory. "Essentially, what we are about is helping school administrators, teachers and most importantly the students, to maximise their potential so the intervention does not carry with it a negative implication. It is a positive one because what we are about is support and improvement and that is why it is done through collaboration that the regional literacy co-ordinators go into the schools and dialogue with the stakeholders," Hill said. As he disclosed the test results in November last year, then Minister of Education Andrew Holness had not ruled out the possibility of closing schools that were consistently underperforming. However, Hill said that while he understands the context within which Holness had made his comments, he does not agree with the closure of such schools."I would want to say that the former minister made this statement because he has always expressed, based on my experience with him, a desire to see the Jamaican education system doing well and to see our students passing the Grade Four Literacy Test and moving on with their educational development," he said. "So if we understand the statement, again in that background, then I suppose it's not as problematic as it would appear. As an educator I can tell you, it is a mistake to use a single score out of context to judge the worthwhileness of any educational institution or the performance of any student." Meanwhile, despite the poor performance of some schools, there was an overall improvement in the performance of those students sitting the test for the first time. Some 71.4 per cent of those candidates achieved mastery, representing an improvement of more than 66.9 per cent in 2010 and 70 per cent in 2009.To read more, click here.