Bermuda's primary school students equalled or outperformed their US counterparts in the majority of the TerraNova test subjects at the Primary 2, 3 and 4 levels, Minister Milton Scott announced yesterday.

And he said that every primary year group tested showed marked improvements.

The Minister made the announcement at a gathering of more than 600 teachers yesterday where the Ministry's Literacy Initiative was launched over a day-long seminar.

"You will already have seen that we have published the Primary 2 TerraNova test results and that the Primary 2 students did very well," Mr. Scott said.

"Some people said that was a fluke. Well I can tell you that the rest of the primary TerraNova results were positive as well. Every year group tested show improvements."

The Minister said - in addition to Primary 2 students - Primary 4 students had also matched or bettered the US performance in the three areas - reading, mathematics and literacy - which the standardised test measures.

Primary 3 students met or exceeded the US averages in two of the three subjects, he added.

"Some year groups made tremendous advances," he said. "Most notably students in Primary 4 and Primary 6 where there were improvements of at least three months in all three subjects in the language test. This is a trend that cannot be misread - primary school students are reaching higher standards across the board."

And the Minister said he expected standards to reach even greater heights with the introduction of the Literacy Initiative this year.

The Initiative will see primary students receive 90 minutes of intensive literacy training each day.

The Ministry developed the programme with the assistance of Literacy Strategy in England.

The success of the English programme has been notable, its creator and director John Stannard told The Royal Gazette.

Two years into the programme, English students had achieved the goals set to be reached over four years.

And there was a ten percent rise in the reading levels of 11-year-olds in just two years.

While the English programme has been a model, it has been modified for Bermuda, the Minister Scott said.

The teachers gathered in Ruth Seaton James Auditorium at CedarBridge Academy yesterday were also introduced to the woman who will oversee the programme locally - Wendy McDonnell .

Ms McDonnell is a distinguished Bermudian educator who has worked in Canada, the US and the UK.