Psychosocial assessments conducted on close to 6,000 students who have failed the Grade Four Literacy Test four times have determined that their ability to learn is being hampered by environmental and other social factors.The assessments have found that more than 80 per cent of the failing children were experiencing difficulties learning, not because they cannot learn, but because of external factors beyond their control."It should also be assumed from assessment findings that with the majority of students, family and community; social and physical environments are additional forces impacting their students' performance," read a section of the Alternative Secondary Transitional Education Programme (ASTEP) summary provided by the education ministry."In moving forward, addressing the academic circumstances of these underachieving students cannot be done in isolation but must incorporate making adjustments to the social environment. To this end, the matter of students' emotional adjustment is priority even as the businesses of their academic (and physical) circumstances are being addressed," the summary added.Education Minister Ronald Thwaites described the results as a tragedy. "I'm not surprised at these figures. It confirms (previous) observations," said Thwaites in a telephone interview last Friday.Fixing early childhoodThwaites reiterated that the emphasis of his administration would be to fix the plethora of problems that exist at the early-childhood level.He argued that if the problems at that level are addressed then the country would not be faced with the "tragedy that the study has evidenced".Thwaites added that all stakeholders - including parents and the community at large - would have to join forces if the persistent maladies plaguing Jamaica's public-education system are to be remedied.The results of the recently concluded assessments have prompted the Ministry of Education to list students' emotional adjustment as a priority issue.The education ministry argued that addressing the external factors hampering the children's ability to learn can only be done in partnership with the parents and the community in general.The assessments were conducted in preparation for the implementation of ASTEP, which is designed to provide an alternative instructional path for children who, after four sittings of the Grade Four Literacy Test, have not been certified literate and, therefore, will not transition immediately to secondary schools via the Grade Six Achievement Tests."The testing of students was to identify the learning readiness of students in order to customise lessons for them to address their individual learning needs," the ministry said.According to the education ministry, "five reputable testing agencies" were used to conduct the assessments on the 5,800 students. The activity lasted approximately three months.The islandwide assessments were done by regions.Varied findingsThe education ministry, which divides the island into six different regions for administrative purposes, noted that the assessment findings varied across the country."Students from St Thomas and St Elizabeth were found to be mostly tactile/activity-based learners with mostly environmental issues contributing to learning difficulties."About 35 per cent of those assessed had real learning challenges. Approximately 33 per cent of students need evaluation for hearing, dyslexia, autism or other medical/psychological problems, while another 60 per cent of the students are sensing and/or kinaesthetic learners."The report pointed out that the students from St Thomas and St Elizabeth have never been assessed for learning style."Parental support is weak or lacking and majority of these students have low self-esteem. In addition to this, majority of these students are 'feeling learners'. Most of these students have some artistic ability," the report added.Intellectual deficienciesOf the nearly 900 students assessed across Region Four - St James, Hanover and Westmoreland - approximately 80 per cent of them had intellectual deficiencies."Visual spatial, visual tracking and visual perception impeded reading and accounted for the literacy deficiencies. A very small proportion of students achieved an intellectual ranking within the low and average range. The vast majority of students in this area were found to be functioning well within the intellectually deficient range."The indications are that most of the students are classified as borderline. In general, when these students were also required to do arithmetic problems (ranging from very basic to fairly demanding) with the benefit of pencil and paper, most found the task difficult and well beyond their current age and grade levels," the report said of the students from Region Four.The experts who administered the psychosocial assessments concluded that none of the Region Four students achieved a grade level above grade four in mathematics."In regions 1, 6 and 3, and in addition the parishes of Portland, St Mary and Manchester, an even combination of environmental challenges and learning deficiencies were identified which impacted the also low average performances indicating literacy and numeric deficiencies of the students," the ASTEP summary report stated."Over 80 per cent of the approximately 4,000 students that were assessed were classified in the moderately intellectually deficient range requiring special-education intervention."