CPEA results expected by mid-June

Results of the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA), which takes place today, are expected to be published by the middle of June.{{more}}

The first cohort of local Grade Six students are sitting the CPEA at 17 centres in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The CPEA is an examination administered by the Caribbean Examinations Council for students exiting the primary cycle of their education.

A release from the Ministry of Education said the students will sit multiple choice papers in Mathematics, English and Science.

“They have all completed their internal assessment (School Based Assessment) and their scores and the samples of their work have been forwarded to and received by the Caribbean Examinations Council. The structure of the assessment makes it possible for students to earn a total of 40% of their final score through the internal assessment. The multiple choice component of the assessment will comprise 60 % of their final score. Each Multiple Choice paper consists of 50 items. The time allocated per paper is one hour and 15 minutes or 75 minutes,” the release said.

The Grade Six Reading Assessment, which is a national initiative, was conducted internally by the Ministry of Education during the period March 3 to 21, 2014.

“The Reading Assessment is diagnostic in nature and the findings are used by the secondary schools to determine the most appropriate strategies to be employed in effectively delivering instruction to those students identified as having deficits.”

This year, 1,948 students have been registered for the CPEA. There are 917 females and 1,031 males so registered.

Last year’s figures are 2,314, including 1,104 females and 1,210 males.

The overall pass rate in the National Common Entrance in 2013 was 55.74 per cent. The pass rate by gender was 47.11 per cent for males and 65.22 per cent for females. The number of students placed into secondary schools in 2013 was 2,190, with 124 returning to the Grade Six to strengthen areas of weakness.

“The Ministry of Education is hopeful that the students will perform creditably in the Multiple Choice component of the CPEA and wishes to indicate that Multiple Choice items, contrary to the belief held by many, do assess students’ competence at all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. That is to say, that competencies tested range from simple knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis to the complex skill of evaluation. Further, such skills and the accompanying literacies have all been developed and assessed during the year through regular classroom activities and the internally assessed components of the CPEA,” the release said.

The Ministry of Education will conduct the secondary school placement exercise as usual.

The implementation of the CPEA was monitored by the Ministry of Education officers following extensive training of education officers, teachers and headteachers by officers of the Caribbean Examinations Council and internally conducted training of teachers by education officers.

Education officers have begun training the teachers of Grade Five, so that work on the students’ projects and writing portfolios can begin, thus allowing students enough time to conduct their research and refine their reading, writing, analytical and presentation skills. One important feature of the CPEA is that students are given multiple opportunities to review and revise their work, incorporating the teacher’s feedback, so as to achieve mastery of curriculum content, of the requisite skills and of multiple literacies. The project work will begin this term, but will not conclude until students reach Grade Six, since that is the stage at which they will be deemed to have attained the cognitive skills appropriate to their level of development.

The Minister of Education wishes all students success in their examination and expresses her gratitude to the head- teachers, teachers and stakeholders for their dedication to all students.