CXC: No change in how we graded exams in 2020

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has assured Ministry of Education officials in Trinidad and Tobago, that there was no change in the way they graded the exams of this country’s students, in the 2020 edition of both the CSEC and CAPE exams.

The clarification came during a meeting between CXC officials, and Minister of Education, Dr. Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, along with Minister Lisa Morris-Julien and Ministry officials.

The Ministry team met with the Registrar of CXC, Dr Wayne Wesley, and his team, on Wednesday October 14th 2020, regarding the queries made in both official letters written to the examination body subsequent to the release of the 2020 CSEC and CAPE results.

An official statement from the Education Ministry notes that the discussions with the Registrar and his team saw clarification being provided on the weighting of the examination papers, and how the grades from each paper were applied to the subject profiles and therefore affected the overall composite score and the final grade assigned.

“The CXC indicated that the method of grading had not been altered for 2020, and the weighting of both the Paper 1 and SBA remained the same, with the overall total score being reduced commensurate with the removal of the Paper 2 mark,” the education ministry release said.

The release reports that CXC also made general reference, with some specific examples, of how SBA marks would have varied based on the moderation process.

However, the Education Ministry says it will be seeking further clarification on several issues. It wants CXC to indicate whether trends in performance in both the Paper I and the SBA Paper by school and subject over the years would be critical to highlight the exact point of deviance between the expected and actual performance in 2020, a precursor to further elucidation regarding possible causes.

The Ministry also is asking for the correlation of this data with schools’ track records of submitting SBA samples for moderation. According to the ministry, the SBA scores of schools, which submitted samples for SBA moderation in previous years must be compared with the scores of 2020, for a fuller understanding of the effect of the moderation process used this year.

The Education Ministry will be sending a third letter to CXC requesting such information today, Thursday October 15th 2020.

In addition, a meeting to discuss the Report of the Independent Review Team with the Council is scheduled for this Saturday, October 17th, 2020. (Trinidad and Tobago Guardian)