A class of 13 first-form students have completed one school term of a two-year programme that should see them writing the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) in mathematics in June 2013.

Dr Sam McDaniel, founder and tutor of the programme dubbed Sam’s Accelerated Mathematics Pilot, said although initial interest was overwhelming when it was announced last summer, a decision was taken to proceed with a smaller number of students supported by their parents.

Last August, Career & Education reported on the ambitious project, which sets out to prove that students can successfully do CSEC math only two years after the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), which students take in order to enter high school.

He said Jamaica was lagging behind the region in math, and that the country’s students should be challenged to do better from an early age in the subject.

Initially, McDaniel said he wanted 60 students who had scored 90 per cent or higher in mathematics in the GSAT to enter the programme, which involved two two-hour classes per week. But since then he decided to go with a smaller class.

“We have 13 students, five girls and eight boys. We wanted the numbers to be small so that we would have people who are serious,” he told Career & Education recently. “Their parents are behind the programme 100 per cent.”

Students from several Corporate Area high schools, such as Ardenne, Kingston College, Campion, Meadowbrook, and Wolmer’s Boys are involved in the programme.

McDaniel, a lecturer in mathematics at the University of the West Indies, Mona, said the students will “most definitely” achieve the target of passing CSEC math in second form.

He said the students were given a Christmas assignment with questions compiled from the last five years of CSEC math and most of them can already do two or more questions out of the 12 on the CSEC past papers.

McDaniel said the students were allowed to get help from family members and friends in doing the assignment, as long as they grasp the concepts being taught.

“I don’t mind if they get help at this stage. This is not exam time yet,” he said.