Despite relatively high levels of enrolment and expenditure on education, there is a growing perception that a substantial proportion of the Jamaican labour force is unprepared for the demands of the global market. This paper provides an overview of the current education context in Jamaica followed by a discussion on the use of education report cards and value-added assessments to increase accountability in the education system. Report cards are summary reports – often produced annually – that assess the current state and progress of an education system. Value-added assessments are used to identify and quantify changes in performance that can be attributed to a particular school or teacher. This study purports that we implement a national report card policy for Jamaica’s education system. We should, however, continue to investigate ways of augmenting the report card with value added assessments.