Georgetown, GINA, February 26, 2004

A new initiative will be implemented in schools throughout the country aimed at improving educational outcomes.
The new School Effectiveness Assessment and Ranking System was launched by Minister of Education, Henry Jeffrey at the National Centre for Educational Research and Development (NCERD) this morning.
This new programme will provide for the managerial assessment of schools at the nursery, primary, secondary and technical levels.
It will complement the School Improvement Plans and ensure that schools fulfill the proposed mandate.
According to Genevieve White-Nedd, deputy Chief Education Officer, this new programme is a response to weakness and deficiencies coming from inspectors’ reports.
Trophies and awards will be given for the top three places in each category.
The Ministry of Education will provide clear guidelines on the operation of this new programme to be facilitated by all teachers and headteachers. It is a user friendly method to be easily managed by schools.
Evaluation will be regarded as a self audit which will be further scrutinized by a team of external auditors.
These would include officers of the Department of Education, a Regional Education Committee representative and a Parent Teacher Association Representative.
The evaluators will assess the school’s management of resources, planning, supervision, curriculum, staff development, community alliances, physical environment and financial resources, among other things.
The assessment will be done on a Regional level then there will be a national assessment. Points will also be allocated for each area of assessment through a rank order table.
The Ministry has already designed manuals to provide facilitators with a standardized approach for the implementation of the project. Schools will have to ensure that records and documents are maintained for assessment.
This system has nothing to do with placement at schools or the status of schools. It also does not have anything to do with the school’s academic performance. It is simply a programme to challenge schools to improve their managerial capacity, while wooing the assistance of the community and other stakeholders.