JIS: Former Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr. Grace McLean, is assuring the public that adequate post-assessment procedures are in place for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP).
“We are now in examination mode, so we will activate our hotlines across the island,” she said while addressing a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Think Tank at the agency’s head office in Kingston on Thursday (February 14).
“Our regional offices, student assessment unit, the office of the deputy chief education officers and the chief education officer will provide support and respond to queries as required,” Dr. McLean added.
Further, she said that parents will be able to utilise the Access to Information Unit to submit their appeals, which will be vetted and handled accordingly.
“We pull scripts if we must, so they (parents) can see the process, and we make sure that they are satisfied at the end of the day… so we open up ourselves for any query there is that we need to sort through,” she added.
The former Chief Education Officer said assessment results and placement information should be provided during the third week of June.
She told JIS News that the placement procedure remains the same.
“The students would be placed based on their choices and grades. A few of our students (approximately two per cent), after we would have reviewed, may have to be placed manually,” she noted.
As it relates to the placement of students to schools in close proximity to their homes, Dr. McLean explained that “the Ministry has taken the decision that we would defer any implementation of zoning until they have satisfactorily implemented this new assessment”.
The new Primary Exit Profile (PEP) will begin on February 26 with the Ability Test.
The Performance Task in Language Arts and Mathematics will be done on March 27 and 28, while the Curriculum Based Test will be done on April 16 and 17. Some 41,423 students have been registered for PEP.
CAPTION: Former Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr. Grace McLean, speaking at a JIS Think Tank on Thursday (February 14).