The Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) was piloted in Anguilla and Grenada.

The external component of the assessment, a multiple choice examination, was offered on 11th May.

A total of 1,951 candidates, 223 from Anguilla and 1,728 from Grenada wrote the examination.

The external component was offered in three literacies: Language, Mathematics and Scientific.

CPEA Pilot Report

Stage I of the CPEA pilot which engaged two territories, Anguilla and Grenada can be classified as a success as the objectives of the project were fully met.

One of the greatest benefits realised from this project was the management and introduction of the item writing workshops that highlighted the deficiencies within certain areas of the teaching sectors. The workshops provided the opportunity for teachers to develop their skills in item writing. The participants responded by lauding the newly-acquired skills and the impeccable delivery of the CXC team and the facilitators. The participants noted that the three-day workshop highlighted areas in testing of which that they were previously unaware.

It is hoped that the newly trained teachers would have a greater grasp of the development of tests and would aid in enhancing the quality of the teachers’ tests component of the CPEA.

The project facilitated the inclusion of parents, teachers, principals, ministry officials and pupils into the learning. The initial response from the teachers was resistance, due to a perceived increase workload. Dr Desmond Broomes, CXC Measurement Consultant, in his Term III review reported that all teachers of Grade 6 reported that at the beginning of the school year they regarded the programme as:

  • Tedious
  • Challenging
  • Heavily laden with loads of work to be accomplished, and
  • Over burdensome

However, subsequent visits showed that the teachers in one voice described the programme as:

  • Rewarding
  • Productive for teachers and their pupils, and
  • Instruments for sustaining teacher growth and enthusiasm

The project team has recognised there is great deficiency in the mechanics of feedback within the continuous assessment component, in order to address this, it has been noted that the training workshops will be enhanced.

Review of the Business Case

The CPEA Business Case aimed to establish that the project would yield the following benefits:

  • All Participating Territories will benefit from greater economies of scale:
    • Lower cost of preparing examination
    • Lower administration cost for examination
  • There will be more efficient processing of examination results
    • Assurance of the quality and rigour of the examination – CXC brand
    • A standardised examination for this age cohort across the region
    • Portability of the examination across the region
  • There will be capacity building in primary schools and ministries of education in:
    • Use of assessment to support learning at classroom level
    • Paper setting
    • Training of teachers/ministry officials
  • There will be stronger articulation of learning outcomes and performance between primary and secondary education:
    • Definition of learning outcomes for primary that are internationally benchmarked and regionally harmonized that include a more holistic assessment of student capability.
    • Stronger engagement of CXC in facilitating a better understanding and use of assessment to support learning.
    • The development among pupils, teachers and parents as shared vision of why assess in the Primary schools, what to assess and how to assess.
    • The assessment process within each school participatory, dynamic and flexible.
    • The facility to view assessment as composed of two main facets; formative assessment as assessment for learning and summative assessment as assessment of learning.
    • The ability to use assessment results with a well-defined feedback process to ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to achieve their potential
  • Students to become familiar at an earlier age of relevant skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, use of technology, self-direction, and communication.
  • The ability to align assessment with curriculum and instruction.
  • The chance to give pupils multiple opportunities to demonstrate their competencies.
  • The prospectus to base inferences on multiple sources of evidence.
  • The capability to assess holistically pupils’ competence in Language Arts, Mathematics and Science.
  • The ability to provide credence and recognition to teachers to deliver informed judgement about pupils’ performance.
  • The opportunity to view pupils as active participants in the assessment process.
  • The establishment of inferences from test scores to include at least three domains: curricular domain, cognitive-meta-cognitive domain and real world domain.
  • The viewing of teachers as critical leaders of the assessment process.

Benefits Achieved to Date

  1. More efficient processing of examination results
    1. Assurance of the quality and rigour of the examination – CXC brand
    2. A standardised examination for this age cohort was developed that is portable across the region
  2. Capacity building in primary schools and ministries of education in:
    1. Tools were developed and deployed across the pilot territories that were used as part of the assessment to support learning at classroom level
    2. Paper setting seminars were held and enabled teachers in at least two territories to participate
    3. CXC conducted extensive training of teachers and ministry officials
  3. A stronger articulation of learning outcomes and performance between primary and secondary education:
    1. CXC conducted several workshops that highlighted the learning outcomes for primary schools that are internationally benchmarked and regionally harmonized which included a more holistic assessment of student capability.
    2. CXC provided support in facilitating a better understanding and use of assessment to support learning.
    3. CXC conducted several stakeholder sessions, provided easy-to-read literature which was aimed at creating and building the development among pupils, teachers and parents a shared vision of why assess in the primary schools, what to assess and how to assess.
    4. The pilot territories have been engaged and sensitised about the assessment process within each school and now appreciate its participatory, dynamic and flexible benefits.
    5. The participating territories now have the facility to view assessment as composing two main facets: formative assessment as assessment for learning, and summative assessment as assessment of learning.
    6. The participating pilot territories now use the assessment results with a well-defined feedback process to ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to achieve their potential.
  4. Students have become familiar with relevant skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, use of technology, self-direction, and communication at an earlier age.
  5. The ability to align assessment with curriculum and instruction.
  6. The chance to give pupils multiple opportunities to demonstrate their competencies, particularly through the introduction of the can-do skills component of the formative assessment.
  7. The prospectus to base inferences on multiple sources of evidence; the project component of the formative assessment aided in addressing this aspect.
  8. The capability to assess holistically pupils’ competence in Language Arts, Mathematics and Science. Both the formative and the summative component of the CPEA accomplished this.
  9. The ability to provide credence and recognition to teachers to deliver informed judgement about pupil’s performance.
  10. The introduction of the pupil tests as a component of the formative assessment element of the CPEA gives the opportunity to view pupils as active participants in the assessment process.
  11. The establishment of inferences from test scores to include at least three domains: curricular domain, cognitive-meta-cognitive domain and real world domain.

Findings from the moderation activity show that there are specific areas of concern in each component which need to be addressed to guarantee improvement in the future. The moderation report, however, indicates that in summary the various activities that made up the formative assessment element were many areas portrayal of excellent work. The report indicated that the pupils completed exciting and imaginative projects on a variety of areas of interest. The book reports and writing portfolios demonstrated growth in writing techniques while many of the pupil-developed tests are suitable for use by teachers. The work submitted by teachers has also shown a level of commitment to improving the standard of teaching and assessment at the primary level.

It is difficult to analyse the CPEA performance against the common entrance system as these two systems are inherently very different. The analysis therefore is being drawn exclusively from the CPEA piloted programme.

From the printed records which are sent to Ministries (and schools), a matrix was used as a systematic, efficient and powerful way to examine the construct validity of the CPEA examination as a whole.

Summary

The success of the pilot is evident from the responses from the different stakeholder groups within the pilot territories with special reference being made to the reactions of the pupils to the various activities and their enthusiasm and interest in completing various tasks.

The overall consensus among teachers and school administrators is that the CPEA is an excellent programme for pupils with various learning styles and abilities. Teachers reported that pupils enjoyed putting together their portfolios and that they have displayed greater levels of creativity in the development of various aspects of their portfolios. The teachers reported that CPEA will better prepare pupils for the work that they will be required to do at the secondary school level and should therefore facilitate a smoother transition. They also indicated there were improvements in pupils’ writing, especially in boys who incorporate teacher feedback in various drafts. However, there were some reservations from some low-performing students to produce multiple drafts of the same writing piece. On the other hand, high achieving students enjoyed producing multiple drafts. The teachers reported that this programme seemed to have created an increased interest in reading, which resulted in pupils looking forward to completing their book reports. Additionally, the teachers noted that there have been improvements in oral presentation skills even for shy pupils.

The ministry of education officers reported that the CPEA is an excellent programme that pupils have benefited from. The CPEA activities provided an opportunity for pupils to develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills that are required for life.
Parents too were generally of the view that the CPEA is an excellent programme that provided their children with skills and attitudes that will prepare them for life and transition to secondary school.

The pilot has been able to highlight gaps in the current system and hence put in place provision for:

  1. Additional training for teachers on certain aspects of the CPEA.
  2. Recommendations to implement CPEA programme/activities from as early as Grade 3.
  3. Continuity measures for the programme.