Immaculate restored to No. 2 spot School cites miscommunication

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION High has apologised for the miscommunication that led to the institution being relegated to number 17 in a high-school ranking compiled by local think tank, Educate Jamaica. The school has been restored to the number two spot.

“Educate Jamaica, in arriving at the 90.7 per cent, was not aware that 40 of our students sat and passed mathematics and/or English A prior to grade 11 for compilation in the 2018 results. When this is added, the percentage attributable to Immaculate Conception High School stands at 99.6 per cent,” principal Sister Angella Harris stated yesterday.

She added, “Educate Jamaica naturally requires of all schools that for such information to be included, proper supporting documentation to this effect must be submitted. We have now furnished all the supporting documentation to Educate Jamaica and apologise for this oversight by us.”

Educate Jamaica ranks high schools based on the percentage of students who, at the end of grade 11 (fifth form), achieved at least five passed in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examination, including mathematics and/or English.

Ainsworth Darby, president of Educate Jamaica, explained that each year the think tank files an access to information request at the education ministry for data regarding external examination results. Then, Educate Jamaica emails principals to verify the statistics in an effort to ensure that results for students who sat subjects prior to grade 11 are included.

He noted that the situation was unfortunate, as Educate Jamaica contacted Immaculate multiple times to clarify the figure before the ranking was published.