This study reports the preliminary findings of a larger study aimed towards the development and validation of sound psychometric instruments that could be used to measure school health within the English-speaking Caribbean. As initial steps, this study located school climate surveys (teacher version and student version) developed by scholars in the United States for Chicago inner city schools. In collaboration with a secondary school principal in Jamaica, the surveys were modified to make them more appropriate to the Jamaican context.

School-based assessments (SBAs) were introduced to improve the validity and authenticity of public examinations across the globe. However, associated with this addition were issues related to teacher involvement, lack of effective material support, and student competence. There were also issues related to reliability and validity in SBAs which led to the conclusion that while reliability is a pre-condition for validity, it is also in tension with it.