The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will administer two sets of mock Performance Task tests to prepare students to transition from the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) to the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), beginning in 2019.

Students who are currently in grade five and will be the first cohort to sit PEP, will do the mock test, on June 18 and 19. Meanwhile, students who are now in grade four will do their test on June 22.

Addressing a JIS ‘Think Tank’, on Thursday, Manager of the Student Assessment Unit in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information Terry-Ann Thomas Gayle said the mock test seeks to sensitise and relax students as they prepare for PEP.

Students who will transition into grade six in September 2018 will do the mock performance task test in language arts, mathematics, social studies and science. The grade-four students, who will transition to grade five come September will do the performance task test in language arts and mathematics.

“We have been preparing our teachers and the education system on a whole to be familiar with this assessment,” Thomas Gayle said.

“Grade-four and -five teachers have been trained to interpret curriculum objectives, how to write assessments at the formative level (classroom level) to develop the critical-thinking skills,” she added.

Unlike GSAT, PEP will not only assess students based on content, but on the extent to which they are able to use their knowledge of said content and skills they developed to solve problems.

The new test is the result of a 2004 Task Force on Educational Reform Report which recommended that the Jamaican education system embark on a radical transformation process to equip its citizens with the necessary skills and competencies that will give them a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

PEP will provide a profile of where students are academically, including their strengths and weaknesses and their readiness for high school.