THE Ministry of Education says a decision has been taken to provide support for the administration of a mock examination for the 2015 grade four literacy and numeracy tests.

Mock examination papers are currently being prepared and will be distributed to schools to facilitate the administration of the examinations on February 23 and 24.

The sitting of the 2015 tests was rescheduled to Tuesday, June 30 and Wednesday, July 1 respectively. The sitting of the tests was initially scheduled for June 4 and 5.

Chief Education Officer Dr Grace McLean said that the level of readiness for the tests, as well as the mastery of the concepts and skills to be assessed, may impact the performance of students as a result of the number of contact days lost in September and October 2014 due to the outbreak of the Chikungunya virus.

She further noted that each school will be provided with an answer key to guide marking, and a template which should be used to record the performance of each student.

The marking and reporting processes should be completed by Friday, March 6 and the results submitted to their respective regional literacy and mathematics co-ordinators no later than Wednesday, March 11.

The grade four literacy and numeracy tests are administered to children to determine their literacy and numeracy levels at grade four, in keeping with international requirements and standards.