My primary areas of research are built upon assessment data from public examinations and other large scale assessments. Most of my work is governed by a philosophical framework that explores the different dimensions of inequality/ inequity in education systems. I believe that man-made systems are inherently unfair, but to different degrees.
I have built, with great effort, a substantial body of work on the 11+ in its various forms and I have a growing interest in formative assessment practice (as part of continuous assessment and otherwise). This interest is consistent with my concern for inequity.
Thematically, I have a central interest in the use of national assessment data in school improvement and in various kinds of educational inequalities, including gender differences in the Caribbean. in studying inequality and inequity, I have explored data use practice as well as education practice in low performing, high poverty schools.
I have developed several recent research strands in the area of comparative education and educational evaluation, and I am currently engaged with some of my colleagues on the nature of the eleven plus in several Caribbean settings.
In terms of methodology, I am a mixed and multiple methods researcher, skilled in both qualitative and quantitative approaches and I am constantly seeking ways to use new data collection strategies and build integration into my research and evaluation designs. I most commonly adopt critical realism or dialectical pluralism as a framework for mixing.
SELECTED RECENT WORK IN INTERNATIONAL PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS
De Lisle, J. (2015). Installing a system of performance standards for National Assessments in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago: Issues and challenges. Applied Measurement in Education, (just published) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08957347.2015.1062765
De Lisle, J. (2015). The promise and reality of formative assessment practice in a continuous assessment scheme: the case of Trinidad and Tobago, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 22(1), 79-103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0969594x.2014.944086
De Lisle, J., Mohammed, R., & Lee-Piggott, R. (2014). Explaining Trinidad and Tobago's system response to international assessment data. Journal of Educational Administration, 52(4), 487-508. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jea-03-2013-0036
De Lisle, J. (2013). Exploring the value of integrated findings in a multiphase mixed methods evaluation of the continuous assessment programme in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 7(1), 2-24. http://dx.doi.org/10.5172/mra.2013.2459
De Lisle, J. (2012). Explaining whole system reform in small states using contextualized theory: The case of the Trinidad and Tobago Secondary Education Modernization Programme. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 15(1), 63-81.
http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1000216
De Lisle, J., Smith, P., Keller, C., & Jules, V. (2012). Differential outcomes in high stakes eleven plus testing: Gender, assessment design, and geographic location in secondary school placement within Trinidad and Tobago. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy, & Practice, 19(1), 45-64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0969594x.2011.568934
SELECTED BOOK CHAPTERS AND JOURNAL ARTICLES FROM 2001 TO 2009
De Lisle, Jerome (2009). An institution deeply rooted in the status quo: Insight into leadership development and reform in the education sector of Trinidad and Tobago from the work of Edwin Jones. Social & Economic Studies 58(1), 69-93 (Special issue in tribute to Edwin Jones)
De Lisle, Jerome, Keller, Carol, Jules, Vena, & Smith, Peter (2009). When choosing might mean losing: A mixed method study of secondary school choice in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean Curriculum, 16(1), 131-176.
Barrow, Dorian & De Lisle, Jerome (2009). A qualitative evaluation of the lower secondary school SEMP curriculum of Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean Curriculum, 16(2), 73-98.
De Lisle, Jerome (2009). External Examinations Beyond National Borders – Chapter 18-Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Examinations Council. In: Barend Vlaardingerbroek & Neil Taylor (Eds.). Secondary School External Examination Systems - Reliability, Robustness and Resilience. New York:
Cambria Press.
De Lisle, Jerome (2008). Can standards-referenced, large-scale assessment data lead to improvement in the education system? Judging the utility of student performance standards in the primary school national assessments of educational achievement. Caribbean Curriculum, 15, 71-114.
De Lisle, J. et al. (2007) Thinking Violent Thoughts: Students’ Attitudes and Beliefs about Violence for the Design of Violence Reduction Programmes within Secondary Schools in Trinidad and Tobago. In: Ramesh Deosaran, Ed. (2007). Crime, Delinquency & Justice: A Caribbean Reader, Kingston: Ian Randle, pp. 133-148
De Lisle, J. (2006). Dragging Caribbean Measurement Practice into the Fourth Quadrant: The Trinidad and Tobago SEA as a Gendered Sieve. Caribbean Curriculum, 13, 89-101.
De Lisle, J., Smith, P., & Jules, V. (2005). Which males or females are most at risk and on what? An analysis of gender differentials within the primary school system of Trinidad and Tobago. Educational Studies 31(3), 393-418.
De Lisle, Jerome & Smith, Peter (2004). Reconsidering the consequences: Gender differentials in performance and placement in the 2001 SEA. Caribbean Curriculum, 11, 23-55.
CONFERENCE PUBLICATIONS
J. De Lisle, P. Smith, C. Keller. V. Jules, S. Lochan, P. Pierre, Y Lewis, P Mc David, & K. Seunarinesingh (2007). In the context of Trinidad and Tobago, how do we identify schools that are
succeeding or failing in the midst of complex and challenging circumstances? In: Lynda Quamina-Aiyejina (2008). Reconceptualising the Agenda for Education in the Caribbean. Conference Proceedings of the 2007 Biennial Cross-Campus Conference in Education. 23-26 April, 2007, School of Education, UWI, St. Augustine, pp. 547-562.
De Lisle, J. (2007). Validating the performance standards in the 2005 and 2006 national primary school achievement tests in mathematics and language arts. In: Lynda Quamina-Aiyejina (2008). Reconceptualising the Agenda for Education in the Caribbean. Conference Proceedings of the 2007 Biennial Cross-Campus Conference in Education. 23-26 April, 2007, School of Education, UWI, St. Augustine, pp. 563-580.
De Lisle, J., Ayoung, G., Soogrim, S., Millien, P., Woodruffe, N., Boodosingh, S., & Gabriel, B. (2005). “Primary schools are nice, primary schools are paradise” Elementary school teachers’ reasoning about student violence and fights. In Ramesh Deosaran, Ian Ramdhanie, & Jason Ditton (2006). Conference Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Crime and Justice in the Caribbean - February 8-11, 2006 - The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago. “New Challenges in Crime and Justice – From Research to Policy.” (pp. 62-73)
