THE Ministry of Education has its sights set on improving the mastery average for the Grade Four Literacy test move from the two per cent average increase that has been sustained since 2011, to seven per cent for 2015.

“This year we are hoping that we will achieve close to, if not the 85 per cent of mastery, when you take into account that 15 per cent of the children are special needs students. The whole programme, is showing signs of significant improvement,” Portfolio Minister Ronald Thwaites told the Jamaica Observer on Friday.

However, he said that the one percentage point increase in the national average, which moved from 74 per cent in 2013 to 75 per cent last year, is not enough.

“I’m not satisfied…we appreciate the efforts and congratulate the teachers, parents, the students. But the progress is much too small to achieve readiness for secondary education, and that cascades through the higher levels of the system. We have to prepare children (for the tests) by giving them a much better early childhood experience”.

Thwaites reiterated that teachers and schools cannot bear the brunt of the responsibility for students’ achievement. “Literacy and numeracy are not just issues for the schools. Parents should encourage their children to read. Read to them, tell them stories, they should try as far as possible to speak to them in standard English. There are many ways in the home and the community that you can address simple mathematical concepts… counting change from the shop…there are any number of ways that the community as a whole can assist the teachers and schools,” he elaborated.

The results of the 2014 grade four literacy test, released on Friday, reveal that 75 per cent of the 37,142 public school students who sat the test had mastered the three-sub skills, while 19 per cent achieved almost mastery, and six per cent tested non-literate.

Less than half of the schools (36 per cent) performed in the highest tier, with the majority in the highest and second highest tiers continuing to attain mastery levels.

In the meantime, the average for private schools continued to trend towards the 100 per cent mark, with 95 per cent of the 4,013 students who sat the exam achieving 95 per cent mastery. Four-and-a-half per cent attained almost mastery, and 0.5 per cent tested non-literate.

Meanwhile, the numeracy test did not fare as well, with 54 per cent of 36,975 students in the public school system achieving mastery. This is a two per cent drop over the previous year, with girls weighing in just above boys at 56.7 per cent.

Roughly 12 per cent, or 92 schools performed in the highest quintile while 58 schools, or seven per cent, settled in the lowest quintile. The results show that most of the schools (40 to 60 per cent), were in the third tier.

Thwaites said numeracy will take a longer time than literacy, to achieve better results.

“The deficit is more pronounced… if we can get somewhere between three and five per cent uptake this year, that would be good,” he stated.

The minister also noted that while the boys did not do as well as the girls, they did “equally as well where there was excellent teaching. If you look at the preparatory schools, there is a contrast, the boys and the girls do equally well, so a big question for us to ask is why not the same in the public schools?”

He said the ministry continues to look “with intensity at how boys learn in different ways from girls. “And we have encouraged schools that feels it’s best to separate boys in grade three from girls, to do so,” he added.

Schools falling in the lowest quintile is a worrisome issue for the ministry, although Thwaites explained that it is not unexpected that in very small schools, there may not be many students sitting the tests.

“Very small schools may not have a full time literacy coach…we have a serious problem with teacher quality, and with student response. Many times the children who don’t achieve mastery or don’t even turn up for the exam are those who attend school very sporadically. What we want to do is to get the social workers attached to the regions — to be told of any chronic absences at whatever level, and to go to the houses where necessary, to help. Not to arrest anybody, but to add another element of encouragement that going to school is not an option, but a necessity,” Thwaites stressed.

This year, five schools located in Portland and St Andrew, had no student sitting the literacy test, and a combined grade four enrolment of five students.

According to Education Ministry policy, all children at the Grade 4 level are required to sit the literary test as no child will can sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) without being certified as having mastered the Grade 4 Literacy Test.

Children are, therefore, given two chances to sit the test, allowing them more time to master the content. The test is administered in June of each year, as the December sitting has been eliminated. This means that a child has an entire year to prepare for re-sit.

The Grade Four Literacy and Numeracy Tests are administered to determine student’s their literacy and numeracy levels in keeping with international standards. The literacy examination measures three sub-skills — reading comprehension, word recognition, and writing.

The test is the yardstick by which students are certified literate before they are able to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test. The numeracy test, which is a newer measure, assesses students’ ability to master mathematical concepts and principles taught from grades one to four of the revised primary curriculum.