Education Ministry to Implement Minor Adjustments to PEP Administration in 2025/26

The Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information will be implementing minor changes to the administration of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations, starting in the 2025/26 academic year.

These changes follow extensive consultations with key stakeholder groups, including the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), as well as focus group sessions involving principals and education officers.

Additionally, a national survey garnered input from more than 2,600 parents.

Speaking during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, Deputy Chief Education Officer in the Ministry’s Exam and Assessment Administration Services Branch, Maryah Ho-Young, emphasised that the adjustments are designed to improve teaching and learning experiences while making assessments less stressful for students.

Key changes to the Grade Six PEP include the consolidation of assessments into a four-day testing window, down from five.

Mrs. Ho-Young outlined the new schedule as follows: on days one and two, students will sit the Mathematics and Language Arts assessments, each comprising a curriculum-based test and performance task. On day three, students will complete combined assessments for Science and Social Studies, and on day four, the Ability Test will be administered.

She noted that the Ability Test, which evaluates students’ general reasoning skills independent of the curriculum, has been moved from its previous position at the start of the testing period to the final day.

“This change allows teachers to focus more on core content areas [in] Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts during their preparation and instruction,” the Deputy Chief Education Officer explained.

In response to the Ministry’s renewed emphasis on literacy and numeracy, particularly as students prepare to transition to high school, selected items measuring these foundational skills will now be embedded within the curriculum-based assessments for Mathematics and Language Arts at grade six.

According to Mrs. Ho-Young, this approach eliminates separate testing for literacy and numeracy, providing an integrated evaluation framework.

The assessment results will provide teachers and policymakers with valuable insights into students’ proficiency in foundational skills without increasing the overall testing burden.

The Grade Five Performance Task, formerly included in PEP, will be removed from the standardised assessment suite.

Instead, the Ministry will continue to develop assessments for grade five, which will be administered at the school level and marked by teachers.

While these assessments will offer valuable insights into student progress, they will not form part of the formal PEP framework.

No changes are planned for grade four assessments. The existing literacy and numeracy tests, including their associated performance tasks, will continue as scheduled.

“These modifications align with the Ministry’s commitment to refining assessment practices to better serve students’ educational journeys. The streamlined testing schedule aims to reduce fatigue, allow teachers to concentrate on core content, and provide a clearer picture of student competencies, particularly in literacy and numeracy,” Mrs. Ho-Young stated.