CXC Examiner May 2012 - Caribbean Examinations Council

The Caribbean ExaminerCPEA TestimonialsCPEA OFFICERS’VIEWSThe Ministry of Education is supportive of the efforts toestablish the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA).With the involvement of CXC in this process, the Ministry isassured that every effort will be made to ensure the quality andintegrity of the certification provided, as CXC certification is already a well establishedbenchmark for educational success in the Caribbean. In our view, the CPEA providesanother means of measuring education quality across the region and is a useful toolfor improving teaching practice. Additionally, we are especially pleased that theCPEA involves the assessment of students over time and therefore is a fairer form ofassessment and a better measure of a student’s abilities than a single examination. This,we believe, is one of its most beneficial features.Our Ministry is pleased with the support we have received from CXC in the pilotphase of the CPEA. We have had several visits from CXC officials to conduct training,inspections and give support and feedback. The response from teachers, students andparents to the CPEA has also been encouraging. They appear excited about it and thenew perspective it brings to the teaching and learning process. We are hopeful thatthe implementation of the CPEA will result in improvements in student performance.Ministry of Education – AnguillaChanelle Petty-BarrettPermanent SecretaryMinistry of Education – AnguillaVeda HarriganEducation Officer Primary, Pre-PrimaryThe CPEA which is being piloted inAnguilla commenced with a visit frompersonnel from CXC. During the visit aworkshop was held for Officers, Principalsand Grade 6 teachers. In addition, meetingswere also held with parents from the variousschools. From the onset parents from otherschools who were not participating in thepilot project were interested in gatheringinformation about CPEA and voiced theirdissatisfaction in their non-involvement in thepilot. This indicates their deep interest in theirchildren’s performance in their exam and theirplacement in ALHCS. Parents’ enthusiasm,assistance and support were also evident intheir attendance to the Science Fair where theyopenly stated that their children were gettingmarks for CPEA. The island needs a renewedinterest in education which an external examcan bring with it.CPEA provides the students with a widerange of competencies and prepares them forthe CSEC, which involves not only the finalexam, but projects and SBAs. The teacherhas to employ several strategies to enable thestudents to obtain these competencies. TheCPEA experience can only help to widen theteacher’s knowledge of the curriculum theyteach. Students are at an advantage in that theycan score marks from the school based projectsin addition to the marks they score in theexamination. Monitoring of the schools/classesprovided the Officers with the opportunity tovisit the classroom more often and having adetailed view of what teachers were doing inpreparation for the exam.The results of the CPEA are eagerlyanticipated by all stakeholders. Whatever theMinistry’s decision in the final analysis, it wasa worthwhile experience which will force theDOE to rethink how the Test of Standards iscurrently done if it is continued in the future.“From the onset parentsfrom other schools whowere not participatingin the pilot project wereinterested in gatheringinformation aboutCPEA and voiced theirdissatisfaction in theirnon-involvement in thepilot. This indicatestheir deep interestin their children’sperformance in theirexam...”www.cxc.org MAY 2012 49