Saint Lucia Tops Caribbean in 2026 Primary Exit Assessment Results

Saint Lucia has emerged as the top-performing country in the 2026 Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA), with all 1,890 candidates securing placement in secondary schools while exceeding the regional average in all four subjects.

The result was announced by the Ministry of Education, Youth Development, Sports and Digital Transformation and was considered a major achievement for the country’s education system.

The national average of the island rose from 77.24%  in 2025 to 79.26% in 2026, with improvements in all four subjects. Language Arts recorded the most improvement with an average of 81.63%, Science reached 80.09%, and Social Studies rose to 80.07%. Mathematics remained as the lowest performing subject, however recorded an improvement from 72.45% to 74.69%.

Chief Education Officer Beverly Deodoni credited ‘Jolly Phonics’ programme and investment in early childhood reading and literacy coaching as the reason behind the improved results in Literacy Arts subject.

He also said that the targeted interventions introduced earlier, which were guided by assessment data, are producing positive results.

Education Minister Kenson Casimir described the results as historic and also revealed that St. Lucia has exceeded the Caribbean average in every subject. 

The island’s overall average exceeded the regional mean of 72.35%. The girls recorded an average of 80.47% which surpassed the regional female average of 73.84%. Meanwhile, the boys achieved 77.93%, which is 7% more than the regional male average of 70.86%.

Emerald Sinisia Lucy Alfred of the Montessori Centre led the Caribbean and the nation, with the highest score of 99.2% and was assigned to St. Joseph’s Convent. 

Alexander Kelly of Augier Combined School stood second in the region with 99.0%, making him the Caribbeans’s top-performing male student. He was assigned to Vieux Fort Comprehensive Secondary School.

The Montessori Centre produced five of the top 16 performers and girls continued to outperform boys nationwide. Casimir acknowledged the gap between boys and girls and said the ministry will expand targeted literacy interventions which will help in improving the outcomes for boys.

The Education Minister further noted that the top-performing students came from several private and public schools, indicating that strong leadership, quality teaching and community support are the real reasons behind academic success and not the school size.
Minister in the Ministry of Education, Danny Butcher requested the parents to celebrate their children’s achievement regardless of their scores.

The ministry also noted the growing interest of students in technical and vocational education. At least 153 students chose to enroll in offered through the St. Lucia TVET Institute, which includes digital innovation, construction, agriculture and media design.

The Ministry of Education also announced that their next priority will be preparing teachers for the introduction of Digital OECS Harmonised Primary Curriculum, which is expected to be implemented completely by late 2027.