There are a number of reasons cited for low levels of performance in literacy and numeracy that relate to home, school and the society in general. Limited material and other resources in homes and schools, limited interest in reading by students who prefer to watch television, play video games etc, the absence of models of good readers in the home, and traditional reading methods have contributed to the low levels of performance.
This programme is designed to improve the standards of literacy and numeracy in primary schools and students of non-governmental organizations through innovative teaching-learning strategies for literacy and numeracy including using technology as a tool to deliver curriculum content. The programme is also data-driven as teachers in the project schools are trained and encouraged to use Jamaica School Administrative Systems software (JSAS) to input data on their students, to monitor and to evaluate their students’ performance.  The programme in the primary schools is age and gender sensitive.
How is it being accomplished?
The work of the project is organized and monitored from the Project Implementation Unit (PIU). Each school is expected to engage facilitators such as teachers, subject and resource specialists and other stakeholders to support school development planning and the various interventions in each school.
The 71 primary schools are placed in clusters for training purposes.  Principals recommend teachers, who are trained as resource teachers. These resource teachers in turn, share their training with other teachers at their schools.  The trainers of the resource teachers, the PIU and Resource Specialists, introduce creative and innovative strategies for the teaching of literacy and numeracy. Additionally, they engage resource teachers in the use of technology to enhance the delivery of the literacy and numeracy curricula, as well as train the resource teachers to be gender sensitive in their pedagogical practices.
What results are becoming evident?
The graduation of 17 project schools based on the criteria: improved standards of literacy and numeracy as reflected on the national grade 3 numeracy and grade 4 literacy tests, good classroom practices along with a school improvement plan, the regular use of JSAS in the school, a School Board in place, and private sector support in place.  These schools now operate as models for other schools and share best practices.  Though graduated they still receive training and visits and project personnel. 
Resource teachers’ continued use of the new strategies in their classroom needs to be ensured.  These strategies though more effective than strategies previously used, require different skill sets, such as the use of technology and are therefore deemed more demanding. The vision is that more schools will graduate.  This will increase the number of model schools sharing best practices in literacy, numeracy and the integration of technology.