27,000 Students Screened for School Readiness

A total of 27,000 students have been screened under the Jamaica School Readiness and Assessment Programme.

“That represents 81 per cent of our infants,” said Project Lead and Transformation Officer for the Transforming Education for National Development (TREND) Programme, Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Dr. Venesse Morrison Leon.

She was addressing the TREND year three, second quarter progress report presentation, held recently at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters in Kingston.

The Jamaica School Readiness and Assessment is a national screening tool used to evaluate the developmental readiness of four-year-old children for primary school.

It is administered by early-childhood practitioners and covers areas of early literacy, numeracy, and social emotional skills to identify children who may need additional support or intervention.

Dr. Morrison Leon also reported that more than 2,700 early-childhood sector participants were engaged in a short course called Play Matters, which offers resources on learning through play.

It was undertaken through partnership involving the Early Childhood Commission, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Jamaica Teaching Council.

In addition, Dr. Morrison Leon said that more than 4,000 educators were engaged in the early reading intervention programme aimed at improving literacy outcomes at the early-childhood level.

“We know that when we have teachers having the instructional competencies, it is going to improve what happens in our classroom,” she pointed out.

Meanwhile, Dr. Morrison Leon reported that 451 primary-school principals received training in strategic management and planning, while 117 principals at the secondary level were trained in strategic planning.

“We had 16 principals who were engaged in training in change management,” she added.

“Good governance… will influence school success and if we have our principals receiving adequate training, then our schools will do better,” Dr. Morrison Leon said.