BVI tops OECS in Grade 2 Reading and Math assessment

The Virgin Islands has emerged as the highest-performing education system among eight participating Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) member states after Grade 2 students ranked first in both Reading and Mathematics in the 2026 OECS PEARL Regional Assessment.

Preliminary findings from the 2026 OECS Programme for Educational Advancement and Relevant Learning (PEARL) regional assessment showed that students from all public primary schools and five private primary schools achieved the highest overall performance in both the OECS Early Reading Assessment (OERA) and the OECS Early Mathematics Assessment (OEMA). More than 7,400 Grade 2 students from eight OECS member states participated in this year’s assessment cycle.

The territory recorded an overall Reading score of 86 per cent, exceeding the OECS average of 73 per cent by 13 percentage points. Students also posted the highest scores in all three reading genres, recording 88 per cent in Visual Text, 89 per cent in Fiction and 67 per cent in Non-Fiction. Although Non-Fiction proved to be the most challenging genre across the region, Virgin Islands students still finished 11 percentage points above the regional average.

Math

In Mathematics, the Virgin Islands also placed first with an overall score of 70 per cent, outperforming the OECS average of 65 per cent. Students achieved the region’s highest scores in Geometrical Thinking and Operations with Numbers, while tying with Saint Lucia for the highest score in Measurement. The territory also surpassed the regional average in Patterns and Relationships while recording scores above 70 per cent in Number Sense and 60 per cent in Data Handling and Probability.