KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Ministry of Education is reporting that 31,479 or 84.44 per cent of students who sat the 2021 Primary Exit Profile (PEP), the primary school leaving examination, were placed in one of their preferred secondary/high schools.

Overall, 37,278 students were registered to sit the PEP Ability Test. Of that number, 4,420 were from independent schools or sat as private candidates. The other 32,858 were registered in the public schools.

With parents being allowed to choose up to seven schools since 2015 – that is two in addition to the standard five with the two additional choices selected from a cluster of schools that were within a 10-mile radius of their attending primary school – the Ministry said 4,315 students or 11.58 per cent of the cohort were placed in secondary level schools that are in proximity to the schools they currently attend.

A further 778 students, were placed manually in secondary level schools in proximity to the address they submitted at registration.

“Even though the tests and/or components used to place students have changed over the past three years, the mechanism used to place students remains the same. We are therefore confident that even in this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, the method used to place students this year is fair, reliable and consistent with what previously existed,” the Ministry said in a statement Friday as it announced the results.

The statement explained that with the Ministry taking the decision to cancel the PEP 6 Performance Tasks and the Curriculum Based Test this year, a hybrid approach was used to place the students.

Based on this combination of scores, we are not able to speak to the achievement of the students in relation to the skills and competencies as outlined by the National Standards Curriculum at the Grade 6 level. The students were however, placed on pathways using the scores attained on the Literacy Tests and the Language Arts Performance Tasks, the statement said.

Meanwhile, 27 special needs students have been placed in secondary schools. These special needs include physical challenges (wheel-chair bound), visually impaired, hearing impaired and intellectual challenges.

“The unique needs of each child are assessed by the Special Education Unit and the schools they are placed in are evaluated to ensure that they will be fairly accommodated,” said the Ministry.

In the meantime, the Ministry explained its so-called Secondary Pathway programme which guides the placement of students.

For the academic year 2020/2021, three criteria were used to place students on the Secondary Pathway programme. These were: grade 4 literacy achievement, grade 4 language arts achievement, and the grade 6 ability test percentile rank.

Students achieving ‘acceptable scores’ in any two of the three criteria are placed on pathway I. Students on this pathway are those who are categorised as showing competence and are deemed ready to access the content at grade 7.

Students on Secondary Pathway II are those who are categorised as being on par in achieving the required skills at grade 7. These students are in need of minimum support in accessing content at grade 7.

Students on Secondary Pathway III are categorised as needing intense ongoing support in accessing the content at grade 7. These students will undergo a psycho-educational assessment to determine the targeted programme of study they will receive at the secondary level.

All told, 23,356 students were placed on Pathway I, of this amount 10,154 were males and 13,202 were females.