Speech

Launching JSAS 7.0 - Remarks by Karen Hilliard, Mission Director

Kingston, Jamaica | Monday, November 17, 2008

The Jamaica Schools Administrative Software (JSAS) came about from a joint collaboration between the Governments of Jamaica and the United States of America, and we congratulate the team at the Ministry of Education for their work with USAID’s Expanding Educational Horizons project. The U.S. government has enjoyed an excellent relationship with the Ministry of Education over the years and I am confident we will continue to do so.

Today, as we launch the enhanced version of JSAS, we can celebrate two things. First, we can celebrate the fact that we have come this far since implementing JSAS under the previously-sponsored USAID project New Horizons for Primary Schools. Since then, under the Expanding Educational Horizons (EEH) Project, JSAS has been continuously upgraded based on the needs of Jamaica’s education system. 

All teachers under the EEH project use the JSAS daily to record attendance for the classes, record grades and prepare school reports and transcripts. 

We can also celebrate the fact that JSAS 7.0 will take its place in the history of Jamaica’s educational system reform, as a dynamic and user-friendly software that will continue to help education officers, principals, teachers, guidance counselors, and parents to better serve Jamaica’s children.   The impact goes beyond the walls of the EEH Project schools as any public and private school can use JSAS. In the long run, the Ministry of Education will benefit from a well-tuned modern school administrative software.

JSAS was designed specifically for Jamaican schools to track students’ attendance, performance scores, and to produce administrative and performance reports. It has been implemented in all 71 of our project schools and 12 NGOs, and is being used as the main data collection tool for the Expanding Education Horizons Project. The earlier version was tested in 200 non-project schools; some of which are using it today, while others are on the road to implementation. Today, we launch the pilot of an enhanced version of the software in ten schools and one NGO. 

JSAS, a product with more than five year’s work in upgrades, product development, and testing, has won rave reviews. This is primarily due to its simplicity of use and the variety of features and benefits to its users. What I like about the software is that schools can access it as long as there is internet access. This means JSAS does not have to be installed on individual computers. I am also pleased that it can manage multiple schools simultaneously.  The Ministry, for example, can therefore enjoy cost-savings as administrators can monitor and analyze data across all of the schools from a central location. It is also good that the parents have not been left out of the process as JSAS keeps track of parent-teacher meetings and even captures parents’ skills that are available in the community.

Through JSAS 7.0, the Ministry of Education will be able to track academic progress within regions, school and population subgroups; and generate interim tracking reports, test achievement reports, report cards and transcripts. Immediate access to attendance records, grades and teacher comments provides time to take corrective action to increase students’ achievement.

Just last week USAID sponsored a conference on education reform with a focus on performance and accountability. The education sector is ‘a-buzz’ with these terms. I am pleased to say that the schools that have embraced the software and used it to its full capacity have been ahead of the game. You have shown that you hold yourselves accountable for your own performance. By using JSAS to garner critical information, you are tracking your own performance to see if you’ve attained your goals, and you challenge education officers and other stakeholders to help you develop the best solutions for any area that requires improvement. 

Today, we also reaffirm that leadership first has to embrace technology before it can advocate the use of technology among others. The use of technology is a fundamental requirement for all principals in all schools throughout Jamaica. I commend you Mrs. Sterling, for leading your school in this remarkable way. I know you certainly attest to how helpful this software really is on the ground.

The launch of the enhanced JSAS acts as a catalyst to inspire more principals and school administrators to be computer literate in order to suggest new tools to teachers, and to monitor and evaluate the use of technology in their own schools. Congratulations to all the EEH schools and our partners. I look forward to even greater success as we continue working to advance Jamaica’s education sector.

Thank you.