Message from USAID Mission Director

In the first year of operation, the Jamaica Partners of Educational Progress Community of Practice (CoP) has certainly brought something new to the basic education community in Jamaica. For the first time, a wide range of interested parties now have the opportunity to get together in one space and share their ideas about how to improve basic education in Jamaica. This Community of Practice (CoP) is the first of its kind for the sector, and USAID/Jamaica is proud to have seen the promise and supported such an initiative. We are happy too, that our partners have seen the value of the CoP and support its work.We encourage everyone to make full use of the CoP; participate in its on-line discussions, share its Bulletins and make your voices heard during the consultations. One potentially very important service offered by the CoP is the query facility, which allows educators and policymakers to ask questions of each other, sharing their strategies and ideas as we work collectively to improve the life chances of all Jamaican children.In Year two, the CoP will strengthen its outreach and actively recruit new members from all across Jamaica. This is crucial to ensuring that it becomes the country wide community which was intended. As it  expands its reach, we hope more classroom teachers will be able to benefit from its resources and services and that its work will have a direct impact on teaching and learning in Jamaican schools.It has been a very interesting year and we hope the CoP activities will continue to make a useful contribution to the basic education community in Jamaica.Karen Hilliard,Mission Director, USAID/Jamaica