National Education Inspectorate Conducting Second Cycle Assessments

The National Education Inspectorate (NEI) is conducting its second cycle of school inspections.

A total of 791 primary institutions and 162 at the secondary level are being assessed.

Addressing a recent JIS Think Tank, Deputy Chief Inspector at the NEI, Bronty Liverpool-Williams, informed that in the first cycle of inspections carried out from 2010 to 2015, approximately 45 per cent or 430 of the schools inspected were rated effective and 55 per cent or 523 schools were ineffective.

She noted that this second round will assess the impact of interventions provided by the Education Ministry and partners such as the Jamaica National (JN) Foundation, to improve school leadership and management, and also see the extent to which the institutions have acted on the recommendations made by the NEI.

“Having inspected all of them and established a baseline, we are going back to see whether or not these schools have improved over time. We are going back to see what is happening in the schools and to report on that in a way that is driven by data,” she informed.

“We are already seeing improvement in some schools but the second cycle report will tell us, in a more informed way, how we are really doing in terms of improvement,” Mrs. Liverpool-Williams said.

The assessment of schools is based on eight indicators: leadership and management; teaching and learning; students’ performance in English and mathematics; progress in English and mathematics; students’ personal and social development, human and material resources; curriculum and enhancement programmes; and students’ safety and security, health and well-being.

As relates to leadership and management, this assessment is based on four sub-indicators – school-based management and leadership; self-evaluation and improvement planning; governance; and relationship with parents and the community.

Only one per cent of schools were rated as ‘exceptionally high’ for leadership and management in the first cycle evaluation. Eleven per cent were rated good; 47 per cent satisfactory; 38 per cent unsatisfactory and three per cent needing immediate support.

“Overall, the data from the inspections showed that there is a strong correlation between leadership and management and teaching in support of student learning.  We also see that there is a positive relationship between leadership and management and curriculum modification and enhancement programmes,” Mrs. Liverpool-Williams said.

A quality assurance entity, the mandate of the NEI is to assess the standards attained by students within the education system; report on the standards and make recommendations to inform improvement in outcomes and quality of provisions.