Reading renaissance

Grace Baston, the lead implementer behind the Grade Seven Academy Reading initiative at Holy Trinity High School in Kingston, could not be more pleased with the latest findings from the third student-administered assessment of grade-eight students this year.

Compared with the first assessment, the latest results show a 91.7 per cent improvement, while less than one per cent of students declined and 7.5 per cent remained at the same level. The findings are contained in the executive summary for the 2026 academic year.

Last week, Baston told The Gleaner that “the progress of the students in the academy continues to give us reasons to smile”.

Results speak for themselves

She said the results would speak for themselves. The improvement is recorded in the summary as one of its central findings, which states that “ students showed substantial upward movement in reading performance over the assessment period. Among students compared from the first, to the third assessment, 91.7 per cent improved and only 0.8 per cent declined”.

According to the summary, prepared by Lavere Henry, “ the 2026 analysis presents a clear picture of reading growth among Grade 8 students participating in the Academy. Across three Informal Diagnostic Reading Inventory (IDRI) assessments, the overall distribution of students shifted upward. Fewer students remained at the earliest reading levels, and substantially more students reached the higher reading stages. The strongest long-term result is that 91.7% of students with valid first-to-third assessment comparisons improved, while 7.5% remained at the same level and only 0.8% declined.

“The typical student also moved upward in measurable terms. The median reading level rose from Grade 2 at the first assessment to Grade 3 at the second assessment, and to a point between Grade 4 and Grade 5 at the third assessment. Among the 132 students with complete records across all three assessments, the median total gain was two reading levels. The results show both breadth and depth of progress: a large majority of students improved, and the overall reading profile moved toward more advanced levels, suggesting greater readiness for the demands of high school than at the start of Grade 7... .”

Baston outlined the research questions guiding the analysis:

What was the distribution of students across IDRI reading levels at each assessment period?

To what extent did students demonstrate improvement in reading levels between successive IDRI assessments?

What proportion of students improved, remained stable, or declined in reading performance over time?

What was the magnitude of change in reading levels among students with complete longitudinal assessment data?

Were the observed changes in students’ reading performance statistically significant over time?

The performance results were assessed at three points using the IDRI. Reading levels were arranged in their natural developmental order to track movement between levels.

Pattern of improvement

The analysis focused on the distribution of reading levels at each point, changes over time, the percentage of students who improved, remained stable (no change) or declined, and the magnitude of gains among those with complete longitudinal data. Statistical tests were used to determine whether the overall pattern of improvement was strong enough to be unlikely to have occurred by chance.

As the number of students with data varied slightly across comparisons, Henry reports that each result is based “on students with the necessary assessment records”.

Finding 1 showed that the overall reading profiles shifted upwards. At the first assessment, a substantial share of students was concentrated in the earliest reading levels.

By the third assessment, the distribution had shifted noticeably upward. The median reading level moved from grade two at IDRI 1 to grade three at IDRI 2 and then to between grade four and grade five at IDRI 3.

The change is especially visible when the reading levels are grouped into developmental stages. Emergent literacy accounted for 24.8 per cent of assessment records at IDRI 1, but only 5.3 per cent at IDRI 3.

At the other end of the continuum, advanced comprehension and critical analysis increased from 2.8 per cent at IDRI 1 to 24.7 per cent at IDRI 3. The summary said “this does not mean that every student followed the same path, but it shows a pronounced shift in the overall reading profile toward higher stages”.

The academy was expected to expand into rural Jamaica and initially began at Newell High School in St Elizabeth. However, its progress appeared to have been disrupted by the damaging effects of Hurricane Melissa last year.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com