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”.

This article examined the extent to which leadership strategies to enhance school effectiveness were employed in selected secondary schools in Jamaica. Attention was placed on leadership strategies as these relate to decision-making, instruction and the learning environment. The sample of 35 principals was selected by stratified random sampling from 14 Reclassified High, 7 Junior High and 14 All Age Schools. A questionnaire was used in the collection of data.

Using a post-colonial lens, this paper describes the changes and constants in Jamaica’s educational system between the 19th and the early 21st century using academic literature and secondary data from the Ministry of Education. High schools initially emerged in Jamaica for the upper and middle classes only, based on the families’ income level, thus excluding children from the lower income bracket. Over time, breaking the glass ceiling for lower-income students became more possible as education included students moving from elementary to high school based on merit.

In the last two years there has been a signi­ficant increase in the provision at the Univer­sity of the West Indies for the training of graduate teachers to teach in secondary schools in the Caribbean. The schools in which these teachers will teach vary from the older type grammar school, to the newer secondary schools, whether called Junior Secondary, Comprehensive or Multilateral.

This paper reports on an investigation involving grade 7 students from three different types of secondary schools in Jamaica, using the ROSE integrated science curriculum. The relationships between school type and grade 7 students' knowledge of science content, acquisition of science process skills and attitude to science are presented and discussed. The study showed that there were significant relationships between school type and students' performance in all three areas on both the pre-tests and post-tests.

It is generally accepted that in the United States and other modern industrial societies there is a link between formal schooling (number of years of formal education) and social mobility, though some scholars such as Anderson, Blau and Duncan, and Jencks have disputed the strength of this link.

This quasi-experimental mixed method research attempts to investigate the effects of integrating peace education into the mathematics curriculum. A sample of 4 classes from 4 sample secondary schools in representative areas of Jamaica was selected. The treatment involved integrating peace education into a unit of mathematics lessons on statistics. The quantitative data were obtained through pre-test and post-test on mathematics. Qualitative data were obtained through interviews, student questionnaire surveys, classroom observation, and student and teachers’ reflections.