A special reading programme in five South St. Andrew primary and all-age schools is recording outstanding improvements in literacy levels following the completion of the first year of a two-year remedial programme dubbed a Ray of Hope.
Test results of approximately 2,500 students show 50 per cent of non-readers or level one students advancing to other levels by the end of the programme's first year, June 2001. The Developing Readers category (level two) saw a 162 per cent jump; Fluent Readers (level 3) increased by 11 per cent and there was a 62 per cent growth in those reading above the fluent level compared to the standing at the start of the programme in September 2000.
Then, 64 per cent of participating students were in the non-reader level; 14 per cent were designated Developing Readers; 9 per cent were Fluent Readers and 13 per cent read over the fluent level.
One year later there was a drop to 32 per cent for non-readers while developing readers increased to 37 per cent, fluent readers to 10 per cent and 21 per cent of students read above the fluent level.
The more than 2,500 participating students were drawn from the 3,017 pupils in grades 1 to 6 in the Boys' Town and Central Branch All-Age, Iris Gelly, Jones Town and Trench Town primary schools.
The stunning turn-around in student literacy at the important foundation level of the primary schools has surprised almost everyone connected with the project and has created much interest in educational circles.
The genesis of the programme was the extremely poor performance by students in two schools in South St. Andrew in the Ministry of Education's grades 3 and 4 literacy and diagnostic tests. Both ranked near the bottom of primary and all-age schools tested.
The Ministry's Education Officer, Dolcie Town-send, together with Joan Spencer-Rowe of the Jamaica Association for Child-ren with Learning Disabilities (JACLD) brought the problem to Dr. Omar Davies, Mem-ber of Parliament for the area, with a proposal for funding a remedial programme in the two schools.
Minister Davies asked that the project be expanded to take in all schools in his constituency plus the neighbouring Central Branch All-Age.
"The results show that we can reverse some of the problems of literacy now plaguing the education sector," Dr. Davies said. "Our goal was to improve the reading and comprehension of the students who were performing well below their grade levels and we have done that overwhelmingly. By the end of the second year we anticipate that virtually all participating students will be reading at their correct levels and will have the foundation necessary to successfully tackle high school," he said.
In addition to the JACLD's pre and post-programme results, there has been an overall improvement in students' performance in the Ministry's Grade 4 Literacy Test.
"The Programme has outdone our expectations," says Mrs Spencer-Rowe who specialises in reading and learning disabilities and educational psychology and who leads the JACLD team implementing the project. She said the programme provide a structured, intensive, developmental literacy programme aimed at preventing "reading failure" and halting it where it has already begun.
Commenting on the way forward, Minister Davies said the factors which contribute to poor reading skills like high absenteeism, inadequate nutrition, problematic instructional methods and a lack of adequate materials, among others, would have to be dealt with to build the skills of parents, students and teachers to institutionalise the success of the South St. Andrew Reading Programme.
