Speech

Honouring Exemplary Teachers

Mission Director's address at the 2007/2008 Caribbean Centers of Teacher Excellence exemplary teachers awards

Ocho Rios, St. Ann | Monday, July 21, 2008

Mr. Chairman, Professor Stafford Griffith, distinguished guests, teachers of excellence, special awardees, students from the primary schools and teacher training colleges, ladies and gentlemen, good evening.

This evening is special, not only to the recipients of the awards for excellence in the teaching of reading in their individual schools and countries throughout the English-speaking Caribbean, but also for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) here in Jamaica and of course in Washington DC.  

Education is acknowledged as one of the most decisive factors for national progress. In some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean fewer than 60 percent of children who start school reach Grade 5 and illiteracy rates remain high. Several factors contribute to the region’s poor performance in education. A major concern is that most teachers and school administrators in the in the region have limited materials, little support in the classroom and training that is ill-suited for dealing with disadvantaged students.

We need to ensure that we invest in proper education to create the human resources needed for economic growth. We must foster a well-prepared workforce and a cadre of citizens who contribute to national development.  Professor Errol Miller, former director of the Caribbean CETT, once said, "If you want to see what a society of the future is going to be like, look in the schools.  It either frightens you to death or consoles you, but it is the society of the future."

In response to this problem, President Bush announced the creation of three Hemispheric Centers for Teacher Excellence, to be housed in existing teacher-training institutions in the Caribbean, the Andean region of South America, and Central America. This Presidential Initiative, established at the 2001 Summit of the Americas and funded by USAID, is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, and ultimately, improving student literacy in the first three grades of primary schools in Central America, Latin America and the English-speaking Caribbean. It is a thoughtful response to the problem of illiteracy in Jamaica and the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean and is at the heart of USAID’s regional educational investment.

We began on October 3, 2002 through a Cooperative Agreement between the University of the West Indies and USAID with the Joint Board of Teacher Education (JBTE) as the implementing agency.  The first phase of the project ended in September 2006.  USAID funded the extension of the project for an additional phase of three years, beginning October 1, 2006 and ending September 30, 2009.

The CETT project promotes equity and access to education and provides innovative leadership to strengthen reading instruction and increase the primary school students’ reading skills. CETT seeks to upgrade the skills of classroom teachers so that they become more effective reading instructors in the early primary grades - that is,  Grades 1 to 3.

The teachers who will receive awards this evening have demonstrated a full grasp of effective reading instruction and have developed learning environments in which reading is truly a central activity for educational development. They have been selected because their students’ performance was outstanding; they consistently applied best practices; and demonstrated significant efforts to work with every  child in their classrooms. This goes beyond the design and delivery of lesson plans. These teachers have transformed their classrooms, fully utilized the material and, more importantly, they have consistently engaged parents to enlist their support to motivate the students and encourage full school attendance.

We also celebrate the excellence of principals. Five are recognized here this evening for their leadership in mobilizing teachers and providing exceptional levels of management support for the CETT project in their schools.

EXPANSION OF THE C-CETT SINCE 2002

The Caribbean CETT, now in its sixth year, is fully established in eight countries, namely Belize, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.  Up to October 2007, only Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines were benefiting from full USAID funding. 

We now see that Trinidad and Tobago, having received limited initial USAID technical assistance at the beginning of the project, is implementing the program with funding from its national budget. 

Grenada, after one year of a USAID-funded program in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, is now implementing the project with limited USAID support.  The Commonwealth of Dominica was added in November 2007. Today, the Caribbean CETT is active in 208 schools, with 978 teachers and a total of 22,053 students.

SUCCESSES OF THE CARIBBEAN CETT PROJECT

The reading program has been hailed as a success across the region.  It has significantly impacted the skills of teachers and students. This is reflected in the improvement in students’ reading skills in the project schools at Grades 1 to 3 and beyond.  Teachers have been able to move students from being ‘at risk’, where they read at two or more grade levels below their respective grades, to ‘Mastery 2’ where they now read above their respective grades. 

Students who benefited from improved reading instruction are beginning to ‘out-perform’ students at other schools in a number of independent national measures of student literacy and achievement.  These include the literacy tests administered at Grade 4 and the Grade 6 Achievement Test,(known by various names), which is administered in most English-speaking Caribbean countries. 

C-CETT DATA TRENDS - GRADES 1 – 3 AND MOVES TO EXCELLENCE

Success/Results in Grade 1

In Year 1 (2003-2004) post-test scores for Grade 1 students indicated 49 percent of all students were in the “at risk” category, while 25percent were reading just below grade level and 26 percent were reading at or above grade level. 

By the end of Year 4 (2006-2007), the Grade 1 teachers had results that showed they had reduced the ‘at risk’ category from 49 percent to 35 percent; while 27 percent of their students were reading just below grade level and those reading at or above their grade level had increased to 38 percent.  

The Grade 1 teachers were evidently obtaining better results as they received more hands-on training that improved their proficiency.  Data gleaned also strongly suggested that teachers in the other two grades had a similar experience.

Success/Results in Grade 2

After the first year of the program, the ‘at risk’ category for all students in Grade 2 was 50 percent while 29 percent were reading just below grade level and 21 percent were reading at or above grade level. 

By Year 4, the teachers of Grade 2 obtained results that showed they had reduced the ‘at risk’ category from 50 percent to 32 percent; while 35 percent of their students were reading just below grade level; and those reading at or above grade level had jumped to 33 percent.  

Success/Results in Grade 3

For Grade 3 teachers, the results were similar.  The year one “at risk” category for all students in Grade 3 was 42 percent; while 28 percent were reading just below grade level; and 30 percent were reading at or above grade level.  By the fourth year the ‘at risk’ category declined from 42 percent to 25 percent; while 27 percent of their students were reading just below grade level; and students  reading at or above grade level had increased to 48 percent.  

Was the road to excellence being paved only by the teachers?

These are substantial results that may be attributed to the improved proficiency of teachers over the years.  A study is currently underway to probe, more empirically, these observed changes. 

This ceremony makes it abundantly clear that Caribbean CETT teachers did their jobs, worked very hard, and produced the desired results as reflected in the data referred to earlier; and ultimately, have proven, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that they have ‘paved the way’ to excellence in reading in the classroom, while simultaneously becoming teachers of excellence, themselves.

THE  CHALLENGE  OF SUSTAINABILITY

Henrietta H. Fore, Director of United States Foreign Assistance and USAID Administrator, in her address to the United Nations General Assembly Thematic Debate on the Millennium Development Goals on April 1 of this year (2008), emphasized the importance of investing in people, particularly in basic education and health, as essential to building the human capacity of the poor so that they can gain access to better-paying jobs and enjoy a higher quality of life. 

On the subject of economic growth she emphasized the importance of building partnerships among development organizations, local and international businesses and civil society groups, as an excellent way to leverage scarce resources and build a stronger, pro-development coalition.

I mention this, primarily since USAID’s assistance to the C-CETT project ends in October 2009.  With this in mind, the JBTE, together with the principals of the schools and colleges and the teachers and students involved in the C-CETT project, are challenged to continue this very successful endeavor. 

The Caribbean CETT project has already received some private sector support. During the first four years, cash and in-kind contributions totaled US$1.2 million. At this time I wish to thank our partners from Scholastics and Pearson Publication, Microsoft, DHL, Alcoa, Digicel, Television Jamaica, Cable and Wireless and Air Jamaica for their support.

We must continue to forge partnerships in the local school communities, with the Ministries of Education, the private sector and non-governmental organizations in your individual countries,  the wider Caribbean and CARICOM, with a view to leveraging physical, material and financial resources to ensure that the C-CETT program continues, not only in the current schools, but in other schools, to other grades and to the point where illiteracy among our youth is completely eradicated.

Teachers and principals let me say this to you:   the Greek philosopher Plato said that, “Excellent things are rare.” You are truly the rare diamonds we salute today.  Through your dedication and patience you have demonstrated that you are true champions. 

In the words of T. Alan Armstrong, “Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks and months and years they spend preparing for it.  The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character”.

We know that it has been problematic, as you sought to raise the bar and bring your students to another level; as you planned and executed your lessons and created appealing and stimulating learning environments…and you stuck to it.  You did not give up when the students did not get it, but you spent countless hours reflecting on how you could make the lessons better.  That is how you have achieved excellence. We need more teachers like you in the region.  You do not look at limitations or deterrents. You are catalysts… Agents of Change.

With the resources provided and your creative energies, you made your students blossom and overcome their challenges.  You motivated them to enter the fountain of learning and to plunge deep into the world of knowledge.

Today you are honored not only for your contribution to the children you teach, but to your nation and to the world. The impact of your work will be felt for years to come.

You have dared to care more than others thought was wise; to risk more than others thought was safe; to dream more than others thought was practical or even realistic; and indeed to expect of your students and of yourselves more than others thought was possible.

We salute you today as true champions, and as exemplary teachers and principals. Thank you.