Saying it was satisfied with the marking of test scripts for this year’s exams, the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) yesterday maintained it would only conduct grade reviews that are requested through its official process or via a Ministry of Education.
“We have agreed and will be working with Ministers of Education to provide clarity in a fulsome way [including] detailed reports on concerns being raised,” CXC Registrar Dr. Wayne Wesley said during a virtual press conference yesterday.
This was also confirmed by Minister of Education Priya Manickchand, who announced on her Face-book page yesterday that Guyana would soon be making an official request for review of the scripts of schools.
“We will be making the request shortly and it will be supported by stats that give reasons for our concern,” she said, while adding that CXC has also agreed to resolve the “ungraded” issue by grading the papers that were already sent to them or the Local Registrar.
The Council has rejected outright a request for an investigation into the marking and grading procedures used at this year’s exams and stressed that it was satisfied with the service it provided and the performance of candidates across the region.
“All of our data that we have reviewed, all the things that we have looked… has not revealed what is being said…. I am satisfied with the service we have provided to our Caribbean students… we are satisfied. It is understood that there is improved performance across the region,” Wesley said.
He went on to stress that the Council has a rigorous quality assurance mechanism process. “That quality assurance mechanism ensures that there [are] detail[ed] checks of every single subject with a detailed report. As is customary with the end of our assessment process, there are queries that will be made. That is why there is a window between preliminary results being released, and final results being released. Those concerns that are raised, we will treat with and provide the requisite responses,” he added.
He noted that of the 111,988 candidates who sat the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examination (CAPE), 93.25% received acceptable grades. At the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level, 79.57% of the 514,517 candidates achieved acceptable grades.
Wesley reminded that anyone with questions about an Absent or Ungraded result, may submit a Query while those with questions about their grade who would like to have a script re-examined may submit a request for a Review.
“Queries are free and the cost per review is USD$30.00,” he stated, while adding that the Council has not considered waiving the fee.
The complaints about this year’s grades have been publicised across the region, including by hundreds of Guyanese students who claim they have received less than they deserved.
Minister Manickchand along with several other Ministers of Education have acknowledged that concerns have been raised.
“We know that Linden has concerns, we know that New Amsterdam has concerns, St Rose’s, Wakenaam…it’s just widespread,” Manickchand said on Thursday.
The matter gained local prominence after the administration and students of Queen’s College began to protest the Grades awarded at the premier institution.
Approximately 60 QC students along with students from the Bishops’ High School and St Joseph High staged a protest yesterday in front of the Examinations Division in the QC compound.
The students repeatedly chanted “fix those grades” and demanded that the Council not just review the grading system but re-grade all papers if necessary, so that the raw scores can be corrected.
The administration of the school, meanwhile, has expressed a willingness to approach the courts for an injunction barring an official declaration of results until such time as its concerns are satisfactorily addressed.
“We have already consulted a lawyer. Our intention is to ensure that we file an injunction to block the declaration of the results,” Principal Jackie Benn-Ralph announced at a press conference on Thursday.
Benn-Ralph, with the support of the QC Parent-Teacher Association (QC-PTA) and the QC Old Students’ Association (QC-OSA) stressed that the school intends to pursue the matter vigorously, including if necessary the re-introduction of a second examining body into the public school system.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic this year, CXC had controversially decided to modify rather than postpone or cancel its examinations.
The Council had announced earlier this year that Paper II, the essay paper, would be discarded in favour of an increased weighting for Paper I (multiple choice) and the School-Based Assessment/ Internal Assessment.
Internal Coordinator for Examinations at QC Samantha Liverpool stress-ed that with two easily mastered components, the exams could in no way be difficult for her students and asked for CXC to reveal its Mark Scheme.
She shared that she had asked before but received no response.
When the question was put to Wesley yesterday, he failed to provide a clear explanation of the new “weighting.
He maintained that each component holds the same weight as outlined in the subject syllabus.
When Stabroek News provided the example of Caribbean Studies, where the Paper II accounted for 33% of the final grade compared with 27% for Paper I and 40% for the Internal Assessment, Wesley said those numbers have not changed.
Reminded that 27% and 40% do not equal 100%, Wesley doubled down.
Reminded again that the Council had said that it would place more focus on “equivalents” and “the trends in teacher predictions,” Wesley said he would not discuss those modalities at the press conference.
Wesley also claimed that the Council’s moderation of assessments resulted in different Grades for many students, with some improved and others adjusted downwards.
“The 100% moderation this year would have given us a very good appreciation for what obtains in terms of the actual presentation of the SBAs and the moderated activity that would point to where students would show very good competence or where students would not show competency,” the Registrar explained.
However minutes after Wesley claimed that there was 100% moderation, Dianne Medford, Assistant Registrar-Examinations Administration and Security, revealed that this was not true.
According to Medford, there was not a 100% moderation for “assessments” rather 100% of centres had samples moderated.
“We mark a sample to start with and if we find disparity between moderator and teacher, we would mark additional samples. That will continue until we have in some cases marked the entire centre to ensure that we were giving all the candidates attention where we found there were challenges,” she noted.
Asked if the Council was concerned about threats to withdraw from the examining body, which have been made by Queen’s College, Wesley said the council would not condone it.
CXC, he noted, was established to serve the Caribbean region under the auspices of the respective ministries of education across the region.
“At no time have we looked at trying to reduce the [number of] persons that we serve. We have always been reaching out and ensuring that we provide them with the service that they need. We would never condone any particular move that will see persons not wanting to accept or receive our services,” he indicated.
