Testing and Examination Unit

Mission Statement
The Educational Testing and Examinations Unit exists to serve the education system by monitoring and providing high quality assessments of students’ performance.

The unit is committed to creating and maintaining an orderly, confidential and supportive assessment environment.

Vision Statement
The Educational Testing and Examinations Unit acknowledges the diversity of our students’ background. Therefore assessment must be seen as a means of communication among students, parents, schools and the wider community.

Its purpose is to motivate and encourage children’s emotional, intellectual, physical and creative development.

The goal of the assessment is to show the current picture of the whole student and to provide feedback reflecting the areas of strength and growth as well as strategies for improvement.

Roles and Functions of the ETX

To co-ordinate/supervise local and external examinations in accordance with prescribed regulations
To co-ordinate the construction of national examinations and tests
To facilitate reliable and timely procurement of examination results
To conduct research on achievement and learning
To provide relevant services to students-issuing certificates, endorsing Photostat copies of diplomas, etc.
To train teachers in assessment and evaluation techniques
To liaise with the various committees established to provide assistance to the unit
To process, analyse and prepare reports on national and external examinations

Staff
EXT consists of 7 staff members.

Senior Education Officer
Testing and Measurement Officer
Examinations Registrar
Assistant Testing and Measurement Officer
Assistant Examinations Officer
Clerk/Typist
Temporary Assistant Officer

Programmes and Initiatives
The Educational Testing and Examinations Unit is responsible for the development, administration scoring and reporting of 5 local examinations.

Minimum Competency Testing (2)
Minimum Competency Testing (4)
Minimum Competency Testing (9)
Common Entrance (Grade 6)
School Leaving Examination (8)

Common Entrance

Registration

The examination is opened to all students attending public or private schools. The candidates must be 11 years old by April 30^th and not more than 14 years in the year of the examination.
Ten (10) year old students who performed exceedingly well and whose names are listed on the Grade 4 MCT results are allowed to write the examination.
Late registration of students would be accommodated up to one week before the examination.
All relevant documents are to be completed by principals and submitted to EXT by the specified date.
Area Education Officers are responsible for ensuring that all students meeting the requirements are registered, and that their date of birth is certified.

Administration

Schools with few candidates will be merged at one centre for the examination.
No candidate should be debarred from writing the examination at his/her centre.
Additional time would be granted to candidates for lateness, sickness etc. The amount of time should be equivalent to that which was lost.
No candidate should write the examination in a centre other than the one in which he/she is registered.
It is the responsibility of the invigilator to ensure that all examination materials are returned to EXT.
Selection of proctors for examination would be conducted by area Education Officers and Principals of Secondary Schools.
Arrangement would be made for all candidates with special needs. However information concerning the nature of the problem must be provided to EXT at least one month before the examination, except in special circumstances.
If for specific reasons a candidate is unable to write the examination on the day specified, the candidate may be allowed to do so within a period not exceeding 4 days.

Rules/Regulations for the School Leaving Certificate

Examination

The School Leaving Certificate Examination is opened to all candidates who have pursued the Primary School course or its equivalent, and have reached a standard equivalent to Grade 8 in an All-Age Primary School.
Examinees are assessed in the following subject areas: English Language and Mathematics (Compulsory Subject) West Indian History, Geography, Health and Family Life Education, Agricultural Science, General Science, Social Studies, Business Education, Art, Clothing and Textiles, Woodwork, Home Economics and Spanish (Optional subjects). The Art Paper is sent out two weeks in advance.
To obtain a certificate, students should obtain a pass mark in the compulsory subjects – Mathematics and English – and also obtain passes in any three optional subjects. (The pass mark in mathematics is 45%; English and all optional subjects have a pass mark of 40%).
A student’s marks in Mathematics and English totalled with his/her three other highest marks are used to compute the average.
Successful candidates under the age of sixteen who have obtained averages of 50% and above are eligible for entry into secondary schools if space is available.
Successful candidates sixteen years and over who have obtained averages of 50% and above are eligible for bursaries. Bursary recipients are placed in one of the nations’ vocational institutions.
Questions on the School Leaving Certificate Examination are based on the given Curriculum Guides.
The Examinations is administered on the given dates by chose invigilators and proctors. Only students who are registered by an institution (Private or Public) are allowed to write the examination.
Registration of all candidates must be completed on the prescribed forms, signed by the principal and returned to the Examinations Unit by the required date.
Any change in entries (students or subjects) should be submitted by the principal to the Examinations Unit at least on month before the Examination begins.
Marks for Course Work and other School Based Assessments should be sent to the Unit on or before the required date.
School children are expected to dress in full uniform for the duration of the examination.
Private candidates must dress appropriately and should present some form of identification.
A report of candidates’ performance is sent to all stake-holders.

Resitting

Students who have failed a maximum of two (2) subjects and have not passed the examination, but obtained a maximum of 30 marks (in the failed subjects) will be eligible to resit.
Students who have passed this referral Examination are entitled to certificate.

Minimum Competency Testing

All students in Grade two, Grade four and Form three are required to write the Examination at their school at the times specified.
Registration of all candidates for the examination must be completed on the prescribed form by principals and returned to EXT by the required date.
Classroom teachers are required to mark the examination during the period (August – September)
Principals are responsible for the proper administration of all examinations conducted at the school.
All written examination scripts must be returned to the school for analysis and remediation.
EXT would provide a report on the candidates’ performance for each of these examinations. A copy of each report must be submitted to schools.
Examination panels for Mathematics and Language Arts are responsible for the preparation of these examinations.

The Testing and Examinations Unit is responsible for the administration of examinations offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and the University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE).

The Examinations offered by CXC are the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

CIE offers several examinations however only three are common in Grenada. They are GCE Advanced Subsidiary Level

(AS Level); GCE Advanced Level (A Level) and GCE Ordinary Level (O Level).

The Registrar of Examinations is the person appointed as the Local Registrar for these overseas examination bodies. The Local Registrar has specific responsibility for the administration of the overseas examination. The Local Registrar is also required to act as the focal point for all CXC/GCE communications to and from centres.

Candidates are allowed to enter for both the January and May/June sittings of the CSEC examinations but for the May/June sitting only for the Cambridge examinations.

Alternative To School Based Assessment
CXC provides an alternative to the SBA in most subjects for candidates who are not attending recognised educational institutions. Candidates who are desirous of writing Physics; Chemistry; Biology and Information Technology should note that the Alternative papers in those subjects are offered in the January sitting only.

Additional information on CXC and CIE can be found on their websites – www.cxc.org and www.cie.org.uk

CSEC; CAPE AND Cambridge GCE O and A levels Examinations
Registration will take place during the period set by the Examinations Unit in consultation with the Chief Education Officer.

During the registration period candidates will pay for the subjects and complete the registration process.

Candidates who paid for subject(s) but did not register by the deadline will receive a refund upon producing the treasury receipt.

The Local Registrar may consider extreme circumstances and allow a candidate to register after the deadline up to a particular date. In such a case the candidate will be charged a penalty and may in addition to the penalty be required to pay courier cost to send the information to the Examination headquarters.

Candidates are responsible for the information placed on the registration form. In the event that there is a cost for amending previous information; the candidate will bear the cost. This is applicable to private candidates as well as school children.

Candidates must appear in person with a photo ID to collect their personal items at the Examinations Unit including examination timetables, preliminary result slips and certificates.

Candidates must ensure that they collect their time tables well in advance of the date of the examination and become familiar with the information written on the reverse side.

Neither the Examinations Unit, nor the Examination Board will be held responsible when there are clashes in subjects from different examination bodies.

Candidates are required to check the information on their timetables carefully and report discrepancies to the Local Registrar.

While it is not compulsory, Private candidates are strongly urged to write their examinations at the centre closest to their residence. If too many candidates are registered to sit the examination at a particular centre the Local Registrar reserves the right to advise that the candidates register to write the examination at another centre.

It is the duty of candidates to become familiar with the rules at the back of their timetables.

The date and time of the examination cannot be changed as it is set by the Examination board.

Candidates, should walk with a photo ID of themselves for each examination. The Supervisor of the Centre reserves the right to deny someone without identification from writing the examination.

Candidates who are registered for a particular subject and wish to be withdrawn will not be refunded except if the withdrawal was made before October 26 for the January Examinations and December 5 for the May/June Examination.

Past examination papers will be distributed based on availability on a first come basis however the office reserves the right to limit the amount of past papers given to an individual.

Private Examinations
Private Examinations refer to examinations other than those administered by the Caribbean Examination Council and The University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate. They include ACCA, CIMA, CIM and London University Examinations.

The Examination Unit will facilitate all persons who wish to enter for an examination with a particular Examination Body.

Candidates may be required to pay a local fee to the Local Registrar for the administration of the examination. The fee will be determined by the Local Registrar based on several factors. The fee will be used to cover the cost of invigilation, courier and room rental if a suitable room in the Ministry of Education is not available.

As of September 2004, candidates may be required to pay the fee well in advance of the date for the Examination.

Documentation Developed

Grenada Basic Education
Reform Project
Evaluation Report on the Testing Programme of the Ministry of Education (December 2001)
James A. Halliday (Consultant)
Operations Manual for the Educational Testing and Examinations Unit (ETX)
James A. Halliday (Consultant, 2001)
Test Taking Techniques
A hand book for Students and Teachers.
B. St. Clair, C. Morgan-Carter, A. Brown
Continuous Assessment Manual (2005)
James A. Halliday (Consultant)
Continuous Assessment Manual (2006)
Irwin Ollivieve
Testing for better teaching and learning
The case of Grenada (1998 – 2001)
B. St. Clair