CXC, Independent Review Team to meet with regional Education Ministers today – Chair

…final report of Independent Review Team to be published on Tuesday

By Lakhram Bhagirat

Chairman of the Caribbean Examinations Council’s Board (CXC), Professor Sir Hilary Beckles related that the Council’s management and the Independent Review Team would be meeting with Education Ministers across the Caribbean today.
He noted that the meeting would allow the Independent Review Team to complete its final report on the results of the 2020 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE). The Council is already in possession of the preliminary report which was submitted on Friday last.
The CXC Board held a special meeting on Saturday to discuss the preliminary findings as outlined in the report and to come up with solutions for the improvement of the regional examination body and its processes. On Sunday, Professor Beckles along with Registrar Dr Wayne Wesley updated the media on the way forward.
“Yesterday, the Council agreed that this press conference should take place to share the important findings of the draft report as expressed by the independent panel and that management should seek to meet with all of our Education Ministers on Monday and that in the interim, the CXC management should deep dive into this draft report in order to facilitate their conversations with all of our Education Ministers who have been invited to participate,” Dr Beckles noted.
Professor Beckles further explained that the various Ministers would have already received their copies of the draft report in order to prepare for the meeting.
“This event signals a critical part of the affairs of the Council and the meetings anticipated for tomorrow (Monday) and the future will be the meeting of the management of CXC and its stakeholders,” he outlined.

Independent Review Team final report
The Independent Review Team, convened by the Chairman, was tasked with the review of the modified approach for the administration of the 2020 CAPE and CSEC exams. It was upon regional concerns from students that the Council instructed a team to review the moderation process applied to the School-Based Assessments (SBAs) and the grading process for the exams, among other related matters.
The panel is chaired by Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald, Professor Emerita and retired Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Open Campus, The University of the West Indies. Other members of the team are Professor Andrew Downes, retired Pro Vice-Chancellor, Planning and Development, The University of the West Indies; Professor Francis De Lanoy, President of the University of Curacao; Harrilal Seecharan, retired Chief Education Officer, Ministry of Education, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago; and the Hon Michael S Browne, Minister of Education in Antigua and Barbuda and Chair of the Caricom Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD).
The meeting today would enable the team to have the opportunity to finalise its report and present it to the Council. The Council has since promised to release the report in its entirety on Tuesday to the public.
This move is aimed at somewhat appeasing the mammoth of concerns that emanated from the results of the 2020 CAPE and CSEC examinations.

Preliminary findings
In providing some of the findings of the report, Professor Beckles explained that CXC did well within the context of the challenges the global coronavirus pandemic posed, citing the efforts to recommend, approve and have implemented an innovative, modified examination strategy for the region.
He noted that the CXC administration was lauded for the modified approach which was both educationally and technically sound and that the system of marking and the adjudication of performance and assessment is technically sound and quality assured.
“CXC conducted its remit in a professional manner befitting its reputation and competence. However, that given the fragment nature of the ecosystem in which schools and Ministries are dependent on CXC and CXC dependent on them, that within the context of the logic of this structure that problems identified as a result could have been placed in a more effective communications response and that the communications between the various elements within the system could have been more effective,” he reported.
The report also identified that given the structural change in assessments, the instances of misunderstandings about the nature of the changes particularly within the school’s setting remained woefully unaddressed. Those unaddressed misunderstandings contributed to a high measure of anxiety in respect of the performance by students and the worries of teachers and parents.
It was further highlighted that the public outcry in relation to the results, stemmed primarily from expected performance outcomes where predictions were sometimes at variance with students’ performance and there were sometimes technical challenges in the examinations communication with CXC and some schools. In some instances, it was outlined that CXC could have responded to those concerns from students, schools and parents with greater alacrity notwithstanding logistical and other technical challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Implementation of recommendations
Professor Beckles reported that the CXC Board also made some recommendations in addition to the 23 already outlined in the preliminary report, some of which are to be implemented immediately and in the near future. He noted that while the fundamentals at CXC are sound, the relationships within the system must now be made more efficient.
“There is now a very urgent need and immediate need to address all of the specific concerns raised by stakeholders, students, schools, parents and teachers and address all of these within the regulatory structure of CXC that are provided for such discussions to address them with immediate urgency.
“That it is necessary for the ecosystem to undergo an audit review. That is all of the parts of the education system in which CXC is a critical component. The relationships between all of these components must now be audited, reviewed and enhanced and in that regard, not only an operational audit of relationships between the various elements within the ecosystem, but to also enhance all the governance principles that are inherent within the model,” Professor Beckles posited.

CXC is an ecosystem
The Chair explained that while the Council is the most visible aspect of CXC, the body is actually an entire ecosystem and that the various parts of that system work in tandem with the Council. He noted that while the outcomes have generally been excellent, there are challenges and those challenges should be addressed.
“We must be conscious that the CXC is but the apex of a complex ecosystem…CXC is the tip of the iceberg – a structure that is largely invisible to the public eye. It is, therefore, the most visible and public part of an enormous ecosystem,” he said.
Professor Beckles explained that while persons generally refer to the entire body as CXC, in fact, there are some 1124 schools, institutions and colleges that participate in the CSEC examinations; 360 institutions that participate at CAPE level; 20 countries in the region through which CXC engage their Ministries of Education; 1500 examiners; 150,000 examination papers; near 40,000 candidates and students at CAPE; and 122,000 candidates at CSEC that make up the Caribbean Examination Council.
“This is an enormous structure and enormous undertaking. It is an ecosystem of education, an examination in which CXC – the organisation – is at the apex and is interdependent on the large structure over which it has no or little control and influence.
“Though we must identify specifically where the challenges are, logic, responsibility and progress would require that we all take collective responsibility to identify and rectify the challenge for the mutual wellbeing of the entire structure. This is the approach that CXC has always adopted and will continue to advocate,” the Chair related.