Henry Johnson, the man brought in by Government to tackle its self-proclaimed education crisis, has a phrase he litters his conversation with: student learning outcomes.

What the term really means, of course, is results — and right now, as he readily acknowledges, the results from Bermuda's public schools are just not good enough.

Dr. Johnson, a former assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education in US president George Bush's government, believes that can change.

He has been tasked with implementing the recommendations of the Hopkins Report — a damning study of public schools released earlier this year which called for a huge overhaul of the system — and making some recommendations of his own to education chiefs over the next two years.

His first job as consultant executive officer for education, as he sees it, is to implement an assessment and accountability system. The accountability aspect will mean schools' performances will be made public, something Dr. Johnson strongly advocates and which was lacking even from the Hopkins Report.

"I think that total transparency is always preferable," he says, adding that when he was associate state superintendent of the North Carolina department of public instruction the results of student performance in aggregate were released to the public every year.

"I'd like to see that here — absolutely," he says. "I think it will happen. Most of the people with whom I've discussed this issue have been very supportive of it, very positive.

"It's not about embarrassing anybody; it's about taking data and analysing the data and making decisions for improving our processes, our structures, so that learning outcomes for kids will be improved."

He adds: "There will be some anxiety from within the school community and maybe the broader community because this will be something new and it will have possible consequences.

"If there is a school that's identified as not doing well then that has implications for everyone associated with the school."

He makes clear that one of the main reasons for publishing the results is to track improvement and decline in attainment and set a clear 'bar' for future results.

"People need to be informed of the degree to which that bar was met, exceeded or not met. The data will be used for making programmatical and instructional decisions."

Big changes in the way children are assessed are also afoot. Students are finally to be examined on the topics they have been taught in the curriculum — the criterion testing long called for by the Island's Association of School Principals.

Those tests — to be conducted at primary four, middle two and senior three — are in the process of being devised but will not replace the Terra Nova exams, which measure Bermudian children's performances against their peers in the States.

The most recent Terra Nova tests showed lower levels of achievement than in previous years, cause for concern in six areas out of 24 identified within reading, language and maths and only nine areas in which learning growth was deemed acceptable.

Dr. Johnson says: "The results were mixed and not good enough. There are 24 different areas and if you have nine of them represented as acceptable performance then that means you have a lot of work to do."

He says Terra Nova tests sometimes produce "hit and miss" results but can be useful in identifying trends. "It can sort of serve as a lighthouse for a system that uses criterion reference tests to gauge how closely the curriculum-based test is moving kids academically forward.

"If one says student learning outcomes are wonderful and the other says that's not the case, you have to analyse what's going on."

Dr. Johnson says it is vital to ensure that the standard for the criterion-based tests is set high enough. The first tests will happen before the end of the year and the results will be used as a baseline to measure future performance.

The new consultant, who is reportedly being paid $250,000 a year, will be involved in recommending how to restructure the Ministry of Education, which came under fire as secretive and bureaucratic in the Hopkins Report.

Asked how the Ministry is helping to effect change now, Dr. Johnson replies: "Everybody is working hard but we can do better." He adds that he's keen to get Ministry officials out and about in schools.

"I think communication is one of the most important things we can do," he says. "I have had conversations with the teachers' union and individuals and I'm actually scheduled to have additional conversations and will continue to talk through some of the specifics of what we are planning. I welcome the conversation with them."

He'll also help train principals in leadership and work on improving teaching standards.

Having already visited some schools, Dr. Johnson says it's clear that "there are a lot of people working hard".

He feels that there is consensus among teachers and principals that change needs to happen and a desire at a higher level for improvement.

As revealed by The Royal Gazette earlier this week, those changes could include the scrapping of the Bermuda School Certificate and a more accurate way of publishing graduation results.

Reading the Hopkins Report and talking to the interim executive board set up in its wake did not fill Dr. Johnson with despondency, despite the document's claim that the education system was "on the brink of a meltdown".

"I don't know how well the private schools educate kids or not but I think the general consensus is that it's pretty good," he says.

"One of the things that I have as a goal is to make the public system so good that it won't be viewed as a second choice or third choice when parents consider where to school their kids. I want it to be the first choice."