The Education Ministry is dismissing concerns by education think tank educatejamaica.org that efforts to access Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) results to rank primary schools could be thwarted.
The Ainsworth Darby-led organisation says plans are being put in place to rank public primary schools beginning with the 2013 GSAT passes.
This comes weeks after the publication of a controversial ranking of high schools based on the number of students who pass five or more subjects with math or English language at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level.
Darby says he informed the Education Ministry at a meeting last week of his plans but sought reassurance that his application not be frustrated given the Ministry’s disapproval of his rankings.
Education Minister, Ronald Thwaites, told The Gleaner/Power 106 News Centre that the education system is operated in a transparent manner and dismissed Darby’s concerns.
The Education Ministry has endorsed a move by educatejamaica.org to offer an award to the high school that records the greatest increase in Math passes in the 2014 CSEC exam.
Critics of educatejamaica.org’s best secondary schools’ guide, including Jamaica College principal, Ruel Reid have raised questions about the methodology used to arrive at the rankings.
However, the organisation has argued that parents have a right to know how secondary schools are performing, academically, in order to give their children the best chance of succeeding.
Educatejamaica.org says it submitted its application for this year’s GSAT passes last Tuesday under the Access to Information Act and expects a response within 30 days.