SOCIO-ECONOMIC CORRELATES OF ATTITUDE TOWARDS STUDENTS' PERFORMANCE ON GRADE SIX ACHIEVEMENT TEST (GSAT) IN LANGUAGE ARTS

Abstract

During slavery many of the slaves in the Caribbean societies were uneducated and did not have access to secondary-to-tertiary level education. After Independence in Jamaica, secondary-to-tertiary level education was opened to the general populace. Statistics from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica indicated that literacy has increased from 50% in the early 1970s to over 70% in the last decade. But despite this fact, about 75% of those graduating from secondary schools cannot read or successfully passed English Language. In 2014 only 63% of those who sat Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) Language Arts were successful.