Work cannot be produced to back up scores given – CXC official

Some schools across the region have been unable to produce work that students purportedly did, which earned them scores in the Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC) School Based Assessment (SBA).

Susan Giles, the senior assistant registrar for the Examinations, Administration and Security Division of the CXC, was speaking at the regional results announcement ceremony yesterday,{{more}} when she disclosed that in 2014, the CXC has found over 120 cases where work cannot be shown for scores entered into the system.

“We are seeing some things that worry us.

“We are seeing some situations where candidates are either bringing the complete SBA in September or the completed SBA in April. Teachers are saying no, we not accepting this because as everyone knows, the SBA is a process and the process must be seen,” Giles explained.

“We are getting a lot of letters coming into us saying that ‘we didn’t see this process. We’re not sure if this is the candidate’s work’ and they’re asking us to take a look at it.”

Although she stated that CXC would like this problem to be dealt with at a school level, Giles revealed that SBA audits have been introduced, where persons are dispersed into the countries that take part in the SBA process and an audit of the work is done.

“Now, if you have scores in our system, you must have work to show us. This year – very distressing situation – we did it in five territories and we have over 120 cases where they cannot produce the work to back up the scores that are placed in the system. Just remember the scores are not placed there by the candidates,” the senior assistant registrar said.

The five territories where audits were done are Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

Giles stated that ongoing investigations are being done in relation to the matter.

Despite this, she noted that generally, schools have “stepped up to the plate” and excellent returns are being seen for SBAs.

The SBA is work that is done by a prospective candidate of the CSEC examination, over a period of time in school and administered in a number of subject areas. The SBA makes up a percentage of that candidate’s final grade.