This paper presents a descriptive case study of students’ proficiency in argumentative writing prior to receiving instruction. Data were collected from students at two purposefully sampled traditional denominational schools, a boys’ secondary and a girls’ secondary school in Trinidad and Tobago. Teachers asked students to write an argumentative essay on a topic that they felt was within students’ prior knowledge. However, analysis of those essays revealed that most students needed “intensive support”; only 5.7% of writers needed “some support”.

Revisions to the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate science syllabuses reflect significant changes to the format of the School-Based Assessment and the process of moderation. The paper explores the professional development needs that these changes may cause. These include planning for teaching and learning, understanding administrative responsibilities and maintaining quality assessment. Assessment for learning is proposed as a suitable framework for supporting the professional development needs of teachers through collaborative activities such as teaming and mentoring.

Science syllabuses, standardized examinations, and teacher content knowledge are critical to the development of scientific literacy. In this study, we quantify the presence of biological evolution in the Caribbean Secondary Examinations Certificate (CSEC) biology syllabus and examinations as well as evaluate the level of evolutionary knowledge held by teachers in the country of Belize. Analyses of the biology syllabus (2002) and the 2005–2012 examinations suggest that biological evolution plays a minimal role at the secondary level in the Caribbean.

Technical and vocational education has become a strong focus area for Caribbean countries as they seek to advance their social and economic status in the globally competitive market. Given this context, schools in the Caribbean offer technical and vocational education and training (TVET) subjects to students from various examining bodies. This paper looks at how schools in Jamaica are doing in TVET in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and the leadership and management principles and practices used in administering TVET in selected top performing schools.

The aim of this study was to establish how well students' GSAT language arts scores predicted their future performance on CSEC English A and to determine the impact of students' level of literacy, based on their GSAT language arts score, on their performance on CSEC English A. Using a longitudinal methodology, the performance of four cohorts of students was traced from primary through secondary schools. The results revealed a strong correlation between performance on the GSAT language arts and CSEC English A.

Former taken-for-granted approaches to the teaching of literature and by extension the teaching of poetry in the Caribbean classroom are no longer stable. Concerns over low student achievement in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination in key areas such as poetry, create considerable debates over how teachers of English in the Caribbean should both respond to and be prepared for the teaching of poetry in the English classroom.