A mere 39 per cent or 50 public primary and secondary schools assessed in the latest round of inspections by the National Education Inspectorate (NEI) have been rated as effective, the Ministry of Education announced yesterday.

The data, compiled from the inspection of 129 schools between September 2013 and March 2014, indicated that in a large number of the schools, students have not attained the minimum academic standards, Education Minister Ronald Thwaites told journalists at a breakfast meeting at the Alhambra Inn in Kingston.

Effective schools are defined as having strong leadership, a clear school mission, quality teaching and learning, a safe and orderly climate, transparent and effective monitoring of students’ progress, high expectations and parental involvement.

A total of 115 primary and 14 secondary schools were inspected.

The latest inspection has brought the cumulative number of schools studied to date to 803, a process which began in September 2010. The sample represents 84 per cent of all Jamaican primary and secondary schools across the six administrative regions of the ministry.

Of the 803 schools inspected, 45 per cent have been labelled effective and 55 per cent ineffective.

Thwaites said more primary schools were assessed as unsatisfactory than their secondary counterparts.

“With over 803 schools inspected, it is clear, based on the data, that these trends are not likely to change when the entire baseline study of 954 schools is completed,” the minister said.

“And this means that we have sufficient evidence to show that the level of performance system-wide is, for the most part, mediocre.”

The full NEI report will be available to the public after it is tabled in Parliament next month.

The report seeks to build a culture of accountability in the education system, turning the spotlight on the quality of education in the nation’s primary and secondary schools, and providing the ministry and various stakeholders with timely and relevant data for school improvement and policy making.