Abstract
The purpose of this performance evaluation of the United States Agency for International Development in Jamaica's (USAID/Jamaica) Jamaica Education Transformation Project (JETP; "project") is: (1) to assess the progress of the project from its start in January 2010 through the end of the school year in 2012; and (2) to make recommendations for any necessary modifications through the life of the project; and to review the validity of data collected thus far. The evaluation report is also intended to provide suggestions and recommendations for inclusion in the next education strategy for USAID/Jamaica. The original evaluation questions can be summarized as follows: (1) to what degree are teachers, principals and regional Ministry of Education (MOE) offices implementing and supporting the project? (2) does the Jamaican education system have the capacity to implement and monitor the project? (3) is there a difference in student reading performance between project schools in crime-prone communities that received additional material support and those that were not? (4) what were the challenges faced with baseline data collection, have they been resolved, and if not, how can they be? (Excerpt, modified)