[UPDATED] Ministry of Education continues inquiry into CXC grades

Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly is to write for a third time to the CXC (Caribbean Examinations Council) registrar on behalf of the hundreds of students who complained of being unfairly graded in this year’s CAPE and CSEC exams in July.

CXC is based in Barbados.

The minister posted a statement on her Facebook page late on Wednesday evening to say the ministry had a meeting with the CXC registrar, who clarified “the weighting of the examination papers, and how the grades from each paper were applied to the subject profiles and therefore impacted the overall composite score and the final grade assigned.”

Gadsby-Dolly said the meeting was “insightful,” but the ministry still requires more detailed information.

CXC, she said, indicated grading methods were not altered for 2020 and the weighting of both Paper 1 and the SBA was the same. The overall total score was reduced as Paper 2 has been omitted.

She said CXC made “general reference” to how SBA marks would have varied based on the moderations made.

CXC explained that the trends in the performance in both Paper 1 and the SBA paper, by school and subject, over the years, is critical in understanding the difference between the expected and actual performance in the July exam.

Gadsby-Dolly said the ministry is also seeking to clarify the correlation between the trends in performance and the schools’ track records of submitting SBA samples for moderation.

“The SBA score 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.”

She said the ministry’s third request for information will highlight these points and will be sent to CXC on Thursday.

“The outcome of the meeting to discuss the report of the independent review team with the council, carded for Saturday, is awaited.”

Attorney Darrell Allahar, representing CAPE students who have decided to take legal action, responded to the minister’s comments.

He told Newsday, “If discussions were fairly detailed and clarifications were generally given, it is in the interest of all stakeholders that this information be released to the public.

“Is our minister content only with writing CXC letters begging for more information or will she ever take the leadership role and band together with her regional colleagues and demand a special meeting of the council of CXC? Are ministers in the region afraid of paper knights?”

Allahar said later in a brief phone interview with Newsday, “In all the years we ever had before, CXC would have published the rubric for marks and they would have published the grading system. If all these things were published before and people knew about them, why are people being kept in the dark about these conversations?”

At the time of the interview, Allahar said he had not yet received a response to the pre-action protocol letter sent to CXC on behalf of his clients.

“We are still waiting, but we also want to see what comes out of this review process…we are very disappointed that the chairman (as of Thursday morning) has not even acknowledged our letter.”

Allahar received an acknowledgement letter from CXC on Thursday afternoon. The response said, "any demands, queries, and/or concerns which you may have in relation to (the complaints) should be directed to the local registrar at your Ministry of Education."

Allahar said the letter is "just another example of (CXC's) arrogance and (shows) they are not accountable to anyone." He said the team will have to meet and re-examine its position and decide on a way forward.

CXC chairman Sir Hilary Beckles said in a statement the council convened a team to review the modified approach for the administration of the July/August CSEC and CAPE exams. The team met on October 2 and will report to Beckles by Friday.

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

Minister of Education Nyan Gadsby-Dolly is to write for a third time to the CXC (Caribbean Examinations Council) registrar on behalf of the hundreds of students who complained of being unfairly graded in this year’s CAPE and CSEC exams in July.

Meanwhile lawyers for some students who want to take legal action over what they consider unfair CAPE marks are still awaiting a reply from CXC.

The organisation is based in Barbados.

The minister posted a statement on her Facebook page late on Wednesday evening to say the ministry had had a meeting with the CXC registrar, who clarified “the weighting of the examination papers, and how the grades from each paper were applied to the subject profiles and therefore impacted the overall composite score and the final grade assigned.”

She said the meeting was “insightful,” but the ministry still requires more detailed information.

She said CXC indicated grading methods were not altered for 2020 and the weighting of both Paper 1 and the SBA was the same. The overall total score was reduced as Paper 2 has been omitted.

She said CXC made “general reference” to how SBA marks would have varied based on the moderations made.

CXC explained that the trends in the performance in both Paper 1 and the SBA paper, by school and subject, over the years, is critical in understanding the difference between the expected and actual performance in the July exam.

She said the ministry is also seeking to clarify the correlation between the trends in performance and the schools’ track records of submitting SBA samples for moderation.

“The SBA score 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.”

She said the ministry’s third request for information will highlight these points and will be sent to CXC on Thursday.

“The outcome of the meeting to discuss the report of the independent review team with the council, carded for Saturday, is awaited.”

Attorney Darrell Allahar, representing CAPE students who have decided to take legal action against after receiving what they considered unfair grades, responded critically to the minister’s comments to Newsday by WhatsApp message.

He said, “If discussions were fairly detailed and clarifications were generally given, it is in the interest of all stakeholders that this information be released to the public.

“Is our minister content only with writing CXC letters begging for more information or will she ever take the leadership role and band together with her regional colleagues and demand a special meeting of the council of CXC? Are ministers in the region afraid of paper knights?”

Allahar said later in a brief phone interview with Newsday, “In all the years we ever had before, CXC would have published the rubric for marks and they would have published the grading system. If all these things were published before and people knew about them, why are people being kept in the dark about these conversations?”

He said the legal team is still waiting for a response from the pre-action protocol letter sent to CXC on behalf of his clients.

“We are still waiting, but we also want to see what comes out of this review process…we are very disappointed that the chairman has not even acknowledged our letter.”