56 high schools targeted under programme to boost math and English language passes

Fifty-six high schools are being targeted under a tactical programme being implemented by the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information to significantly enhance student performance in Mathematics and English language in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

Portfolio Minister, Dr Dana Morris Dixon, provided details during the recent post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew.

She said that the 56 institutions chosen were those assessed as “not satisfactory” in the National Education Inspectorate (NEI) reports.

“Those are the ones that have been identified for the interventions, which include helping the teachers to teach new methods. We are also going in and helping the principals, we are supporting the students more, we are having... some of the master teachers assisting them more, so its multifaceted,” she said.

Acting Chief Education Officer, Dr Terry Ann Thomas Gayle, noted that the tactical programme in the 56 high schools will involve doing more handholding with the principals, heads of departments, and the students.

She said that among the elements are extended learning and teacher support, accountability, performance tracking and celebrating achievements.

“So, we are looking at extended learning...to a minimum of five hours for mathematics and English language. We're also looking at students doing extended activities outside of the regular school curriculum delivery [such as] camps, webinars, one on-one sessions with experts in the areas,” she outlined.

Thomas Gayle said the tactical approach “treats each student at the level where they are. It treats each school at the level at which you get the students and how you move them towards that success that we will reap come the June exam.”

She pointed out that educators are being further trained to support the needs of students.

“We have begun training in professional development. Our heads of departments for English language and mathematics, they have begun several rounds of training as it relates to curriculum delivery, unpacking the curriculum, and customising the curriculum to the level of the students that they have under their charge,” she noted.

Thomas Gayle said that the activities will be rolled out in the coming weeks and months.

She encouraged all stakeholders to support the programme, which is expected to yield improvements in the targeted subject areas. She noted that a similar intervention has been used at the primary level.

“When we got the 2022 Primary Exit Profile (PEP) data for grade five and we saw how the students performed, we used the same approach at the primary level and we saw the [improved] performance at grade six.

“We believe that our high schools are more than capable of improving the students and so, we are comfortable and we are optimistic that this will yield the success that we so desire,” Thomas Gayle said.

Meanwhile, she is also encouraging persons to visit the Transforming Education for National Development (TREND) website at https://volunteer.trend-ja.com/ to lend their support to the education transformation process.

- JIS News

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