Aid in Action

Inner-city Student Boasts Highest Test Score

Student scores near perfect on national Grade 6 exam

 | Thursday, August 30, 2007

In Jamaica more than half of sixth grade students fail to achieve “near mastery” on language and math tests, and about 30 percent of them remain functionally illiterate. Inner-city schools are even more challenged, stigmatized and lacking resources to bolster student performance. Hamesh Creighton, a sixth grade student at an inner-city school in Kingston, has beaten the odds.

Hamesh’s school, St. Peter Claver Primary, has benefited from a USAID educational project, which empowered the low-performing school with teachers that are better trained, educational technology that excites students, and nutrition programs that increase student concentration. This year Hamesh aced the national grade six exam and has been awarded the Marcus Garvey Scholarship for being the top male student from a government school in Jamaica.

The national grade six exam, administered by the Government of Jamaica, is taken by over 50,000 primary school students each year to determine their place in high school. Hamesh had the impressive scores of 99 percent in Math, 99 percent in language arts, 99 percent in social studies, 98 percent in science and 92 percent in communication. Next year, he will attend Campion College, one of Jamaica’s most prestigious traditional high schools.

“I really feel good to make history at St. Peter Claver and I am looking forward to doing well at Campion,” says Hamesh. The shy 11 year old whiz kid loves to explore and is a budding scientist. He has consistently been at the top of the class at St. Peter Claver and his teachers and school administrators could not be more proud.

Acting Principal Karen Jackson-Reynolds says, “We are tremendously proud of him and thankful to USAID for the support, training, and resources that we have received. Now, the school can provide a more sound education for its students."

USAID works with over 70 primary schools across the island to increase school literacy and numeracy levels of students. The St. Peter Claver in Kingston has improved at a remarkable rate through the program and will continue to gain USAID support through its new educational project, Expanding Educational Horizons.