Dear Editor,

I write to highlight a glaring contradiction in Jamaica’s education system: The National Standards Curriculum (NSC) advocates tiered activities to meet diverse student needs, yet none of our national tests or exams, from grades two and three diagnostic to Primary Exit Profile (PEP), are tiered in their assessments. Where are the hands-on assessments, the gamified assessments with technological integration at the primary level? This mismatch undermines teachers’ efforts and leaves students feeling defeated.

The NSC outlines excellence by structuring lesson plans to be tiered and tailored to meet each student’s individual needs. However, the phrase “fish climbing a tree” serves as the perfect analogy for this very curriculum.

While the NSC claims to be geared towards catering to students’ diverse needs and promoting inclusivity, it contradicts this mission by forcing all students to prove their achievement through rigid, one-size-fits-all national exams.

How can we claim to celebrate diversity in learning while requiring every student to demonstrate success in the exact same way? If we truly believe that every child has unique strengths, then our assessment methods must reflect this belief; otherwise, we are simply asking fish to climb trees and judging them by how well they fail.

As educators we spend our days differentiating instruction, crafting tiered tasks that scaffold learning for every ability level — from the struggling reader to the advanced thinker. But then comes the national exam, a one-size-fits-all monolith that ignores these specific needs. Students who thrive in tiered classwork face a rigid test demanding uniform performance, exposing gaps rather than strengths. It’s akin to expecting a fish to climb a tree. After years of failure that child begins to internalise incompetence, crushing his/her potential.

This isn’t theory, it’s my reality after nine years as a teacher, public speaker, site operations leader, and business process outsourcing (BPO) executive. In classrooms and corporate training rooms, I’ve seen tiering transform outcomes: tailored challenges boost engagement by 40-50 per cent in my experience. When BPO teams receive levelled tasks, productivity soars. Why not apply this to exams? The NSC’s push for inclusivity rings hollow without aligned assessments.

I propose practical solutions starting at the primary level by way of:

• categorised testing: Students, teachers, or parents select assessments based on interests/expertise within core subjects

• group assessments: Collaborative tasks reflecting real-world teamwork

• hands-on/gamified formats: Integrate technology for engaging, ability-matched evaluations

• multiple pathways: Levelled questions, adaptive scoring, or profiled certifications

Policymakers must act to introduce tiered national exams that match classroom reality. Only then will we turn fish into confident swimmers, not frustrated tree-climbers. Jamaica’s children deserve an education system that matches their promise.

Shaniele Higgins

Educator and education advocate

shannhigg03@gmail.com