In Jamaica, there are many sources of data that can provide an evaluation of teachers, students, and schools at the primary level. The NAP assessments of students at grades 3, 4, and 6 focus on academic outcomes in literacy, numeracy and primary level subjects such as science and social studies. The panel inspections conducted by the Ministry of Education and Culture allow for officials of the Ministry of Education to assess some aspects of the management and supervision of a school, as well as the performance of teachers in that school.

For Cuban (1992), fundamental reforms are those which permanently transform, alter, or completely overhaul the educational process, and are not mere renovations. Many changes have to take place for these reforms to materialize. Fullan (1993) describes educational change as “an overlapping series of dynamically complex phenomena” (p. 21) that are uncontrollable in many respects. Change is not something that can be forced or mandated, he argues.