EDUCATION Minister Andrew Holness says schools that consistently underperform at the national assessment level, such as the Grade Four Literacy Test, could find themselves facing drastic action from the Government.

“Next year is the time for action when we will be having the third sitting of the test. We will be looking at schools that consistently underperform and decisions will have to be made on not just support and intervention but on whether or not the teaching staff is effective and from that will flow actions ranging from support to separation,” Holness told Parliament in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the assessment will also “determine whether or not the school will continue to exist”.

The education minister was speaking against the background of the less than flattering results of the grade four test, which were published Tuesday. The results show that only 67 per cent of the 54,250 primary and all-age school students who sat the test in June achieved mastery, a drop by four percentage points compared to last year’s results.

In the meantime, 24 per cent achieved almost mastery and nine per cent non-mastery.

The literacy test, which comprises word recognition, reading comprehension and writing, is written by grade four students in primary, all-age and independent (preparatory) schools throughout the island. Students must master all three areas to achieve mastery in the exam.

Tuesday Holness told Parliament that principals and teachers will increasingly be held more accountable for performance, hence the threatened action for under-performance.

“The ministry has introduced an improved system of accountability designed to hold policy-makers, administrators and implementers at each level accountable for school performance and ultimately student outcomes,” he told Parliament Tuesday.

He said in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of of universal literacy by 2015, underperforming schools will be notified of the actions as detailed in the School Accountability Matrix and the support strategies outlined in the National Comprehensive Literacy Programme.

“We have set targets for each school to achieve…those schools that have not met their target this year we are reviewing where their weaknesses are and where their strengths are and directing resources,” he explained, noting that the “third phase of the accountability matrix will take place next year”.

Meanwhile, Holness said that the ministry was contemplating a reform of the curriculum to focus specifically on Mathematics and English Language.

He also he appealed to his colleagues in Parliament to put special focus on pimary Schools in their constituencies by providing resources such as books, computers or even a literacy specialist from their Constituency Development Fund to improve performance.