THE PROSPECT of acceptable levels of literacy in the early stages of the education system is bleak. Reacting to a report from her own Ministry, Minister of Education Maxine Henry-Wilson says she finds it disturbing that almost half of some 53,000 students who sat a Grade 4 literacy test last June, achieved less than the 'mastery level'. For Grade 4 (comprising ages 9-10) to pass the test they should be able to "recognise words, read and understand simple stories, reports and letters" as the official report defines the test.
The level of mastery is determined according to three subtests word recognition, reading comprehension, and writing. Mastery level is attained when the student passes all three subtest categories.
It is unacceptable that such a high percentage of students in the fourth year of formal education at the primary level are unable to recognise words and understand simple stories. Indeed, the same problem higher up the education system was highlighted last week at a Gleaner Editors Forum by Lauriston Lindsay, principal of the Happy Grove High School in Portland. He noted that of 230 students in Grade 7, only 10 were reading at the required level. This problem, of course, is not peculiar to Happy Grove.
We commend those school administrations who are striving valiantly to bring their students up to an acceptable level but there is a need for a more structured programme at the national level to address this under-performance in the basics of education.
The Minister says the recent establishment of the Early Childhood Commission was to put more emphasis on pre-school standards; but the problem of inadequate specialist teachers to do remedial work has had a negative impact on the literacy of Grade 4 students. The prognosis for improvement is not good as only Mico Teachers' College offers training for specialist teachers in remedial work.
The Minister's pessimism is not shared, however, by the Acting Chief Education Officer in the Ministry, Mrs. Adelle Brown. She told a Gleaner Editors Forum last week that the performance in the literacy tests has been improving because of the new curriculum and support materials which were being developed. As she analysed the situation, 86 per cent of this year's cohort of students attaining mastery and near-mastery levels were performing at acceptable levels. She did concede that the critical category are those students at non-mastery level.
The apparent contrast in views between the Minister and the technocrat may be attributable to differences in perspective: the technical officer reading the statistical trends as against the end results influencing policy targets in the context of ministerial responsibility.
Be that as it may, it seems to us that a critical factor is the need for remedial teaching in the education system at this early stage. This seems to justify the emphasis on the mandate of the Early Childhood Commission. Teaching must strive to get it right at the earliest stages. In the final analysis when schools continue to "graduate" illiterate and semi-literate students, the capacity of the country to perform in an increasingly competitive international market is severely handicapped.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
