School: American International School of Kingston

Address: 2 College Green Avenue, Kingston 6

Founded: 1994

Head of School: Shirley Davis

THE American International School of Kingston (AISK), while not well-known to many, has been promoting a new type of education geared towards preparing students for tertiary education. The curriculum is aligned with the American education system and is heavily technology-based. They don’t use ‘head boy’ or ‘head girl’ to refer to their student leaders. Instead, it is ‘president’ and ‘vice-president’ for the deputies. It is, as described, a place where everyone wants to learn. This week we speak with a panel of student leaders about their 21st-century type of education and discuss how this compares to the Jamaican system.

Sarah Mahfood (Vice-president)

DOB: February 1, 1999

Career Aspiration: Interior Design

Raine Williams (former president)

DOB: May 3, 1998

Career Aspiration: Agribusiness

Myles Hanning (active senior member)

DOB: September 12, 1997

Career Aspiration: International Relations

Brandon Chin Loy (former chief slass rep)

DOB: March 13, 1998

Career Aspiration: Chemical Engineering

C&E: Describe AISK.

Raine & Sarah: A diverse institution that embodies a new type of education that enhances technology and caters to every learning style in small learning environments.

C&E: ‘New type of education?’ Elaborate.

Raine: From grade six we all use computers, or iPads. We do our homework in a more paper-saving way. Of course, we use our books; we have actual books. We also have ebooks which we use online. Our homework can be seen within a calendar onSchoology, which is a website that we use. Our teachers use it as well to track our assignments, where we also upload our homework. We also have another website, Power School, where we can track our grades.

C&E: Comparing the type of learning within Jamaican public schools and AISK, what does AISK offer that these schools don’t?

Brandon: I think AISK is much more individualised, where they cater to everyone’s learning style. We have a very diverse student body and we cater to slow learners versus quick learners and what’s admirable about the teachers is that they are able to cater to all of the students that no student is left behind while the class remains on track. The fact that they are able to cater to these students with specific instructions while the class is still maintained and stays together as a whole is what mainly distinguishes us from other schools, especially with the small class sizes.

C&E: Do you think that we need to get more technology in Jamaican schools?

Sarah: Yes, we should.

C&E: We find that many emerging career fields are centred on technology. What do you think can be done to move Jamaica’s education system in this direction to take advantage of these jobs?

Myles: Maybe before technology, there are some other things that need to be improved in Jamaican schools. There are some schools that don’t have enough classrooms and have to do it in shifts, for example. There are so many areas that need improvement, I think technology might be one of the last areas to look to.

C&E: What do you think are some of these areas to be improved before we move to technology?

Myles: Sometimes they might not have enough teachers, classrooms.

Raine: Maybe even their computer science rooms because I think that not everybody needs a tablet to try to enhance technology. Maybe it is a simple computer room for students to be able to do their work and research. Not everyone uses a lot of books anymore; you canGoogle something instead of going through a pile of books.

C&E: Considering the tablet in schools project that the Government has started to implement, give me an idea as to what the approach should be in rolling out this project? Do you think it is important, and why?

Raine: I think it is important to an extent. If we are going to have each student having a tablet in school, they should know the right way to use it and to know what to do with a tablet, in terms of using the tablet to research certain things, instead of the tablet only being used for games, which is what most children think electronic items are for. They should be pushed toward research and education, helping them with their homework and things like that, so they can ease into doing huge research papers in the future, knowing how to research and cite sources properly.

Brandon: I think that’s one of the most important things: learning how to use it effectively, because it is a good tool for learning. There are so many things that you can do on a __tablet that can enhance your learning and even catalyse it to some extent. It’s just a matter of educating the children.

C&E: So what I’m getting from you guys is that it’s not necessarily the ownership of technology, it’s how it’s used?

All: Yes, that’s right.

C&E: I understand that the courses that you do here are not CXC?

Brandon: We don’t do CXC, we do regular courses, up until what you would call sixth form.

C&E: “Regular courses,” such as?

Sarah: Math, science, English, social sciences

Myles: It’s modelled off the US curriculum.

Brandon: We do IB: International Baccalaureate.

C&E: What does that entail?

Raine: This is where we do subjects surrounding what you would like to study in university. You can do higher level, which is pre-university courses, or standard, which is if you are not familiar with the subject and want to be introduced.

Myles: You have to do a minimum of three higher level and three standard subjects, which is a total of six. Every subject is very intense. Some of it is university level.

C&E: Is IB recognised and accepted everywhere? Can you do IB and go to UWI, for example?

Myles: It is an impressive thing to have. People know and understand the difficulty of the courses because it is not just the six courses that you would have to do, but other knowledge-based courses.

C&E: I know that you have a career counsellor in the person of Nicole Campbell, but does AISK provide any sort of transitional or placement programme from high school to college?

Brandon: From the 11th grade, some students have to come early for a college prep class. They meet with college counsellors who give them the overview of the whole application process and gives them guidance as to how to write college essays, how to fill out college applications, The Common Application, and then later on. They will provide you with a preliminary list of colleges and will work with you on that.

C&E: Would you suggest that the Jamaican education system move in that direction?

Sarah: Yes.

C&E: Because?

Raine: I think it should be a choice; not IB across the board. But if they really want a feel of how university is like, they should try IB.

Myles: Yes, I think IB is one of the best ways to prepare students for university. [However] it takes a lot to make a school who has not been teaching IB ready because you have to be accredited etc. It can take years to implement.

Shirley Davis: Just the fact that you can earn those college credits. That means you canliterally skip the first year of college.

C&E: What can the Jamaican education system learn from AISK?

Myles: I find it difficult to say what Jamaica’s education system can learn from AISK because the students come from such different backgrounds. It’s certainly not the fact that AISK came out of the Jamaican education system but did things better than other Jamaican schools to get to where it is now. Rather, at AISK, we have benefitted from excellent, diverse leadership to constantly improve, but it is also perhaps a case of sufficient funding and a small size that has made it easier to create such a thriving school.

The sheer size of Jamaican schools makes it very difficult to allocate enough money to making the necessary improvements, but even without the kind of funding they need, I would still say there are areas that can be improved now. AISK attracts passionate teachers and is led by an administration that also has a deep care for education. What seems to be uniquely understood here is how complex and intricate learning is. There are so many ways to learn and each student learns in a different way, but AISK has managed to understand this and successfully create a school who’s structure and teachers can accommodate the needs of every student. It’s more than memorisation and good grades — it can be about coming to appreciate knowledge, becoming a critical thinker and finding your own passion for something. This is something I see in everyone at AISK, and I’m confident that this same enthusiasm and appreciation for what education really is will spread.