WHEN it comes to academic performance among high schools in Jamaica, Campion College is an acknowledged champion. With a success rate of over 90 per cent in every subject in the crucial school-leaving exams and a plethora of scholarship winners each year, Campion is the school of choice for most parents in Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine.

The Hope Road-based institution attracts the cream of the crop of young scholars from the Grade Six Achievement Test, and with that comes the perception that Campion is the best because it gets the best students.

But according to former principal Radley Reid, that’s partially the case. The true answer, he says, is the monitoring system that tracks both the performance of teachers and students.

“I’m the first to admit that we get good students, but having got them, we have to make the good students better,” said the 61-year-old classroom veteran, now education consultant trying to replicate the Campion model in other high schools.

Having served the school for “33 years and one term”, Reid was integrally involved in the process which saw Campion transform from a reasonably-performing private school for well-heeled boys to the envy of the local secondary school system.

He joined Campion straight from the University of the West Indies in 1973.

“When I came, there were about 450 boys, two streams in each form, and a few girls in sixth form,” Reid recalled.

Founded by the Jesuits in 1960, Campion started as an alternative to St George’s College for sons of the wealthy. The first principal was the late Archbishop Samuel Carter.

“The academic record was fair, not outstanding. We didn’t necessarily get the brightest students,” Reid recalled of the school when he joined.

Campion became a grant-aided – meaning government subsidised – institution in 1976 and started receiving Common Entrance Examination awardees.

It also merged with Sts Peter and Paul High School for Girls next door.

But it was under the leadership of John Mackay that its performance changed.

“There was a very deliberate move to improve the curriculum under John Mackay, who took over as principal in 1977,” said Reid.

Integral to this improvement was the development of a handbook for teachers in 1980, documenting the responsibilities of heads of departments and teachers, including details on the number of pieces of class work, homework and tests per term, in each subject and for each grade.

Also, the head of department must see teachers’ lesson plans on a weekly basis, and report his or her findings to the Dean of Studies, a position equivalent to, and sometimes held simultaneously by the vice-principal.

Each teacher is presented with the handbook on entry to Campion.

Then there is a detailed analysis of the performance of students and teachers in exams.

A summary sheet for each class is produced showing the number of students receiving each grade. And because students are selected randomly for each class, the level of ability of all students is approximately the same.

“Right away we can see how a teacher is performing with respect to the others teaching the same subject,” said Reid.

Campion’s standard is that only 10 per cent of a class should score below 60 per cent in any subject. If between 10 and 20 per cent score below 60, a caution is issued.

And if more than 20 per cent get below 60, “the teacher needs urgent help”, and is required to show improved results over a period.

“Getting rid of a teacher is not very easy, as the Ministry of Education has to come into play and so forth, but there have been a few cases over the years where you say to the teacher ‘look, it’s best for you to go’,” said Reid.

The performance culture has pervaded the school to the point where even the students are demanding that their instructors be top notch.

“With the type of students we have here, when a teacher is not performing, the students find out very quickly, and they make it very uncomfortable for the teacher to remain. The students are not very merciful,” said Reid, approvingly.

Despite the strict environment, staff turnover is low, with half the complement having tenure for more than 10 years, some for more than 20 years.

“In general, we have competent, qualified and dedicated staff who have the interest of the school and students at heart,” says the former principal.

Students slipping in performance are put on a programme: they are put ‘on report’ by their grade supervisors; the student is graded by each teacher in each class for conduct and work; those grades are sent on to the grade supervisor who, in consultation with the vice- principal, determines whether the student continues on report until he or she improves.

Each student is also required to have interest in more than their academic studies.

“In the Jesuit tradition, we insist that our students should serve others in whatever area they choose,” said Reid.

“In fact, we have stipulated that in order to graduate, each student should be involved in at least one club and one sport.”

The system has worked well, as the numbers show:

. 26 out of 42 Jamaica scholarships in the past six years;

. the last three Rhodes Scholars;

. 100 per cent passes in several subjects at CSEC, and over 90 per cent passes in all CSEC subjects; and

. perhaps the largest sixth form cohort in the island, with 160 students in each year, made up of more than 95 per cent ‘Campionites’.

“I’m quite pleased at where we’ve reached, but there is still room for improvement. As we say at Campion, we will only be satisfied when everybody gets ones in every subject,” said Reid.

A ‘one’ is the top CSEC grade.

The school is now in the hands of its first female principal, Grace Baston, former head of Alpha Academy and acting head of the Humanities Division at the University of Technology.

“She is the right person at the right time for the continued improvement of Campion,” Reid says of his successor.

To facilitate a smooth transition, Baston was brought in last September, with the assistance of the school’s board, its home school association and alumni, to monitor the institution’s five-year development plan drafted on the ‘balanced scorecard’ performance model with the assistance of growth facilitators, a new wave of business consultants.

The perception persists that Campion is a school for the wealthy, but Reid says that is changing.

“I will admit that a large number of our students come from the upper class,” he said.

“But the fact is the profession with the largest number among the parents is the teaching profession. There are also many civil servants, police and nurses – and, certainly, you would not call them upper class,” said Reid.

He says efforts are made by alumni and other parents to assist children in need with books and lunch.

“It’s all done discreetly, so nobody knows who is being assisted.”

Now Reid is available to schools islandwide to replicate Campion’s successes. The thought excites him.

“I’m available for consultation to go into schools and using scientific methods, assess, analyse and redefine their teaching programme for the overall improvement of the school, working with teachers, doing demonstration classes, with specific focus in math and science,” said Reid.

He also heads a three-year mathematics education programme sponsored by the National Commercial Bank.

Now in its second year, the programme seeks to improve performance in the pilot schools: Gaynstead High, Jamaica College, Meadowbrook High, Mona High, St George’s College and St Hugh’s High School – all in the greater Kingston area.

“There was an improvement in the (last) exam results but I don’t want to say it is because of the project. It is too early to make a definitive comment, but the programme is going well,” said the educator.

editorial@jamaicaobserver.com

Campion factoids:

Average class size: 39 in the lower school; 33 for fourth and fifth forms; and 15 to 30 for the sixth forms. depending on the subject.

Some teachers have written textbooks on their subject areas.

The school has more than 40 clubs and extra-curricular programmes, with each student required to do outreach – whether feeding the elderly at golden age homes, visiting children in hospital, and their peers in inner-city communities.

Extended enrolment: over 1,400, according to education ministry figures.