Kingston, Jamaica – September 2010
JSAS is USAID-funded web-enabled software which gives Jamaican administrators and Ministry of Education officials the ability to assess school, teacher and student performance through the analysis of collected student and teacher data over the Internet. Developed on the principle that “better data leads to better decisions,” JSAS 7 enables an at-a-glance overview of the Jamaican school system and gives detailed academic information for each individual child registered in the educational system. Teachers are responsible for entering data for their classes on a regular basis so Administrators and Ministry officials can generate and review reports on demand. JSAS 7 streamlines school-related record keeping and reports for teachers and principals as well.
The information JSAS can manage includes (but is not limited to):
- School facilities
- Teacher particulars
- Student particulars
- Classes
- Assignments/grades
- Enrollment/registration
- Student attendance
- Teacher attendance
- National Assessment Program test scores
- Teaching history
- Student history
Additional features of the new JSAS include:
- User Centric: Teachers can enter data quickly from the computer lab or from their home, and administrators can generate usable reports to monitor school wide performance.
- Accessible: Schools without Internet connections soon will be able to access the system using another application currently under development.
- Easy to Use: The application has been made as easy to use as possible while still fulfilling the requirements of the Ministry of Education.
- Donated: Provided to the people of Jamaica by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development.
- Reliable: Efforts have been made to minimize maintenance and support costs while provision has been made for graceful error handling.
- Web-Enabled: It eliminates costly and troublesome software installation at local schools.
- Up-to- Date: Provides accurate and almost real-time census data.
