THE Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has, for the first time since it began setting, marking and managing the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) in 2016, commenced and completed a process of verification to ensure that the scores that were earned by the candidates are recorded and reflected accurately and fairly in the candidates’ placement.

Chief Examiners and Assistant Chief Examiners employed by CXC have checked an appropriate sample of the NGSA examination scripts, the Education Ministry noted in a press release.

According to the ministry, these scripts, which were housed in containers specially sealed by CXC in a manner that would allow detection of any tampering, have been opened in the presence of the CXC Supervisor.

“These officials have checked to ensure that all questions on the scripts were marked, that the scores recorded inside match what is recorded on the outside of the booklet and that the tallying of the scores is correct,” the release stated.

The standardized scores were also quality checked by CXC to ensure that they match what has been given by CXC to the National Data Management Authority (NDMA) and that the consequential standardized scores reflect the way the candidates worked.

“Some of this quality checking was previously done by the Testing Unit of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) without the involvement of CXC, but, for the first time in the history of the examination, it was conducted by CXC, the examining body which manages the examination inclusive of preparing the examination questions, supervising the examination and marking the scripts.

“Additionally, the Council will now, for the first time, manage the entire review process, which said review process begins immediately upon publication of the results,” the ministry noted.

With the introduction of these new measures, CXC will now be managing the entire NGSA from beginning to end (inclusive of review). The Ministry of Education aims, with these new measures, to conduct level appropriate examinations that are fairly and transparently marked and that bear the CXC mark of integrity for which the examining body is renowned across the world.