NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Tackling the learning loss is the main issue on the agenda for the Ministry of Education, according to officials, who say that there will be a strong focus on reform and ensuring that both teachers and students have what they need for success.
This year, the company, Renaissance was chosen by the Ministry of Education for data collection through testing roughly 8,000 students in the public system, and after the program was delayed due to a late cabinet conclusion some several weeks later, Acting Director of Education, Dominique Russell said that they expect to have the results from the testing come January.
“We really should have rolled that out, you know, in November, but there are some preliminaries. We need to connect with our internal stakeholders, the union so that they know, you know, what this company seeks to offer,” Russell said.
The education acting director explained that once the company has sufficient information in hand to determine which students need help they will begin testing students to pinpoint where the greatest needs are.
“They want to and they will be providing testing for our children and not only that, once we discover where our children are struggling, where all the remediation needs are, we also training teachers, providing training for those teachers so that they know how to provide the remediation opportunities.
“It’s going to be online so every child will be tested and we will provide the support. The company Renaissance will provide remediation opportunities for their children.
“So it’s going to be cyclical where, you know, we test and then we remediate we test, we remediate. And so that’s going to be the process.”
Russell added that a survey was also distributed to teachers to get feedback on their morale and results are also expected to be in by early next year.
As the country moves into 2023, the acting director said the government is focused on remediation having signed on to several agreements to offer training for teachers to fight against the long learning loss.
“We’re looking at improvement in math, math reform. We want to ensure that on teachers’ morale, you know, that they are motivated to provide quality service for our children.
“We are looking at, as the minister says, providing a greater manifestation of our curriculum in terms of sports in the arts, not just sports, and the arts, but also in cultural expression.
“And we are looking at providing opportunities for our teachers, you know, to build capacity, professional capacity to become master teachers.”
