Literacy leap

Seventy per cent of the cohort of seventh graders at Holy Trinity High School last academic year who were part of the Grade 7 Academy – a radical literacy and numeracy programme for students functioning well below their grade level – recorded dramatic improvements in performance and a majority have moved up at least two grade levels in a one-year period.

Proponents of the programme, which is spearheaded by St Michael’s College in partnership with the Ministry of Education, and which offers an adjusted curriculum focused on remedial reading, writing and numeracy, remain focused and excited about the fast pace of progress being made by the vulnerable children.

With a goal of accelerating progress by moving students up multiple reading levels in a single year, there is increased demand for the programme to be implemented in at least three other schools with cohorts of similar students.

Grade Seven Academy Project Coordinator Grace Baston said the results are exponential.

In an October interview with The Sunday Gleaner, she presented the end-of-year analysis.

The data showed that 85 per cent of the students improved their reading levels and mode reading level moved from pre-primer to grade four. Data showed a dramatic shift in literacy levels, with 25 students reading at grade four, 19 at grade five, and 33 between grades six and nine.

Numeracy levels also shifted.

Forty-eight per cent were above grade four level; only 30 per cent still in critical non-mastery, down from 98 per cent; while attendance jumped from 62 per cent to 93 per cent, and punctuality from 59 per cent to 80 per cent.

The current findings come a long way from an October 2024 baseline of 30 per cent of students who were reading below grade one level; 66 per cent between grades one and five; and less than one per cent who were reading above grade six. Previous Grade Seven cohorts advanced by 0.8 grade levels in a year. In numeracy, the majority were below grade four, with 8 per cent at critical non-mastery.

Sad and heart-breaking

“Part of that last year’s cohort, they could not recognise that that was their name on paper. So that’s just sad and heart-breaking. So we had ideally wanted for these 40 from last year who either made no progress or very little progress, who were still reading below grade one, we wanted to have four rooms for them no more than 10 each,” said Baston, a former principal of Campion College.

Baston said the current cohort is not much better off.

“Forty-eight per cent of the children are reading at grade one and below. That’s nearly half. We have 13 kids who are non-readers, right? They just took Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examination. Thirteen kids who are non-readers from 123 students,” she explained.

“So 13 are non-readers, who cannot recognise the letters of the alphabet; 15 are pre-primer – levels below grade one. There’s grade 1, and then there’s primer, and then there’s pre-primer, and then there’s below. Pre-primer is barely a little better, you know some letters. By the time you reach primer, you might know the alphabet. Then you reach grade one, so imagine, 48 per cent of the kids are at that level,” she disclosed.

“The other 52 per cent are at grades two and three. We have about 32 of them reading at grades two and three. There are 25 per cent reading at grades two and three, 13 per cent at grade four, one per cent at grade five, and less than one per cent at either grade six, seven or eight, more like zero percentage. Everyone who came in is at below grade four level, so they are not ready to engage a 7th grade curriculum. But they have to leave primary school, that’s the other issue,” she stated.

Three curricula are running in the Grade Seven Academy, modified to address various deficiencies. These include phonics, a grade three curriculum and a grade five curriculum.

Another school that has reaped success under the programme is Newell High School.

It’s vice-principal Errol Bennett told The Sunday Gleaner he was elated at the progress.

“We started our programme in January, and we would have seen tremendous growth in the children. We are seeing where 90 per cent of our students have moved at least one reading level over the period, which is equivalent to one year of school, but which was done in the space of about six months learning,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Tremendous improvements

“The students we normally get at our school would be students who are at the lower end, and schools would not want to accept them. And so what we find is that students even from our institution, some of the more traditional high schools which would not have accepted them a year ago, now accepted them after tremendous improvements,” he disclosed.

Once non-readers, unable to recognise letters, children are now volunteering to read – even for teachers – outside of the classrooms.

One child is reading at a grade two level in six months.

Nearly all of the cohort was promoted to grade eight. However the 2025-2026 grade seven cohort is similar to last year’s with students reading at, on average, grades two and three levels.

“So what we refer to as IDRI, which is our reading inventory profile of the students, a standard which most schools use to assess. What it tests is the student’s ability to read or to just pronounce words, to understand what they read. And when we did that, we were averaging between grades two and three for the whole cohort,” Bennett disclosed.

One of the unique features is that 66 per cent of the intake is boys.

“And boys are generally, if you look at most reports, late starters in reading. And we are really making an impact on the boys and they are learning quite well. They are progressing,” he stated.

Digitally savvy, many students readily assist with setting up connections for their lessons.

“So their digital literacy skills is also a component that is increasing exponentially. And the programme also incorporates character development. So we have lumped three things together. So the curriculum that is offered has the religious education, the health, family, life and guidance come together, so we are teaching them principles of life,” said Bennett.

More settled in classes

With children focused on learning, their character is improving and they are also more settled in classes. Community members seeing the progress have also come on board with tangible support.

Two families have donated two classrooms, leading to the establishment of a reading lab for more focused teaching. Another family donated a brand new television, tiled the floor and installed air conditioning in the classroom. Continued progress among the children could result in the family outfitting the entire Grade Seven block with air conditioning, he disclosed.

Meanwhile, the old adage that good work brings more work is evident, according to Baston.

St Mary’s College, Pembroke Hall and Spanish Town High School have signalled more than a little interest in implementing the programme. While St Mary’s College is sold on the idea, it currently has nothing in place, she stated, adding that its cohort is stronger.

“In every one of these places that has approached us, it’s different. Pembroke Hall is different in that they, their principal, pretty much had the same idea and was ready to go and just needed some support,” she explained.

At Holy Trinity, last year’s cohort has left the block on which they were housed for less-than-desirable conditions on the eighth grade block.

“The children have now left the Grade Seven Academy ... to be housed on a block that is like a prison. Many wished they were back there,” she explained.

Among the facilities they have left were brand new bathrooms, donated by Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson of National Bakery, which have turned out to be better than the staff bathrooms.

At the same time, the Ministry of Education has been kept in the loop.

“We’ve sent updates. We’ve sent reports and I reported to the Holy Trinity board all along,” Baston said.

She said the ministry was instrumental in granting permission to change the timetable and alter the curriculum, agreeing that additional posts would be created where more teachers were needed, and promising to provide hardware and software. The hardware was supplied through e-Learning Jamaica.

“We had to find money for the software,” she stated.

The ministry also agreed to pay her as a coordinator.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com