THE first term of the 2012/2013 academic year has been special for more than 35,000 children in 172 primary schools in three of the Ministry of Education’s six regions.They have benefited from strategies aimed at improving their performance in reading, courtesy of the USAID/Jamaica Basic Education Project.The project is overseeing the roll-out of the USAID Education Strategy in Jamaica, which is part of a wider global objective to improve reading levels in 100 million children worldwide by 2015.The strategy is in line with projections by the Ministry of Education to achieve 100 per cent literacy, also by 2015.“The reading strategy in the 172 schools means a lot for Jamaica and the USAID Mission in Jamaica is optimistic that it will bear fruit over the next three years,” said Supervisory Programme Officer with USAID Jeanette Vail.“Globally, USAID is narrowing, focusing and refocusing basic education programmes, and USAID/Jamaica is no different. This year, USAID/Jamaica will focus on improving reading in grades one to three in 172 schools in three education regions,’ she added.“In the past, USAID implemented its education program in six education regions. This is a year of ending and at the same time a year of beginning of the USAID/Jamaica education project that will continue through to the year 2015,” Vail said further.The schools, which have been benefitting from the reading strategy roll-out since September, are from regions one, four and six, and were selected by the ministry because many of their grades one to three students needed help to boost their reading levels.The project is using a threepronged approach to improve reading instruction, namely improving teacher effectiveness; increasing availability and use of reading materials and strengthening classroom and school management.Early in the new term, the project team hosted a sensitisation seminar at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston for school leaders, principals and board chairmen, from the 172 selected schools to get them fully on board with the plan to improve early grade reading; to help them understand the expectations of the project and their role in achieving the targets set; and to present a timetable for action to achieve project goals.Addressing the school leaders, Vail praised them for their commitment to the roll-out of reading strategy, noting that it was the latest initiative by the USAID in its 50-year involvement with Jamaica to improve the education of the country’s children.School leaders were encouraged to increase instructional time for reading, reduce teacher and pupil absenteeism and encourage reading at home, community libraries, and other venues.In September, the project started to train teachers to teach reading, utilise appropriate language for reading instruction, and to provide age- and language-appropriate reading materials.As the project progresses, there are plans to establish and enforce reading standards and utilise reading diagnostic tools on a continuous basis.Project Director/Chief of Party of the USAID/Jamaica Basic Education Project Dr Jean Beaumont said her team has hit the ground running during the first term of the academic year.“Our team members are 100 per cent committed to ensure that the foundation is properly laid for the success of the reading strategy,” she said.“Our aim is to build the capacity of teachers and improve reading competences in the lower grades; and to empower principals with skills that will enable them to offer support and monitor their reading programmes effectively,” Beaumont added.A veteran educator herself, she said the partnership between the USAID and the Ministry of Education through the Jamaica Basic Education Project is just what teachers of children who are struggling with reading need at this time.“The plan is to ensure that every child in Jamaica can read at their grade level and we know this is critical if the Ministry of Education is to achieve its target of 100 per cent literacy in the primary education system by 2015,” Beaumont said.Meanwhile, a special component of the project is the recruitment and training of a cadre of 13 reading coaches. These are experienced classroom teachers with training in literacy and school management, and already they have been offering onsite clinical support to 36 schools in the selected regions.The coaches are engaged in several activities, including lesson observations, demonstration lessons, co-teaching, conferencing and the hosting of schoolbased and regional reading workshops.The focus is to build the capacity of the teachers at the host schools in an effort to improve their pedagogical skills and promote sustainability in effective practices.The project’s reading team — led by Dr Maureen Byfield, Jennifer Silvera and Novelette McLean-Francis — has been out in the field for the last three months hosting workshops for trainers of teachers and developing frameworks for continuous assessments.At one workshop, held under the theme ‘Reading Leadership: Successfully Managing the Reading Programme’, the principals from the 172 schools were guided on how to better promote the effective monitoring of the reading programme in their schools.They were also asked to reflect on their supervisory practices as well as to examine the impact of reading philosophies on their practice. The workshop was also used to sharpen principals’ skills in setting reading goals and using data to inform planning and instruction. An early reading assessment checklist was also introduced as an instrument that could assist the process.One of the major elements of the strategy is the use of technology to improve early grade reading. The technology advisors, Dr Melody Williams and Andrea Pinnock, have also been in the field, and conducted a three-day workshop in Ocho Rios to train teachers in information communications technology (ICT) integration strategies to enhance reading instruction, assessment and data management.Forty-nine teachers and three administrators from 50 schools, as well as eight reading coaches and seven education officers, attended the workshop.The first two days aimed to help teachers develop and hone requisite skills in using presentation and movie-making software and to use these skills to design instructional multi-media materials for their reading lessons. Each teacher used the skills to create an interactive PowerPoint activity and photo story to help students attain selected reading benchmarks.Workshop participants were also introduced to the web-enabled, school management tool, Jamaica School Administrative System (JSAS) software. This software was developed under a previous USAID project and it is designed to monitor performance and attendance of students, teachers, and staff and maintains records on the school plant (buildings/equipment etc). Presenters were Simone Bullock, the project’s data manager and Mark McKnight, a teacher, who guided teachers through the various features of the software.The USAID/Jamaica Basic Education Project team is already looking forward to this term of the 2012/2013 academic year to build on the solid foundation laid over the past four months and to ensure that the 35,386 students targeted in the early-grades are benefiting from the investment to improve their reading levels.Click here [1] to view original article.