Caribbean Examinations Council
This two year project for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) will commence shortly, and will be conducted in several phases, although precise and final details will be agreed following the Preliminary Investigation Visit in late February/early March. During this visit, we plan to interview key staff, in particular those working in the Measurement and Evaluation Division, in order to review their current skill levels and identify areas where the future training programme should be focused. We will then submit a Preliminary Report of our findings to CXC, including an outline for the training programme, and we will also leave a “Task List” for CXC staff in preparation for the training.
Depending on the findings of the preliminary visit, we envisage that the scope of the training will address matters such as:
- Consolidation of various understandings of evaluation, assessment and measurement theories and principles
- Enhancement of understanding of how achievement can be measured using a variety of assessment techniques and strategies (e.g. formative, summative, competency-based assessment)
- Development of assessment techniques and approaches
- Improvement of the ability to design and construct assessments
- Enhancement of the ability to develop an item bank and requisite stock items
- Identification of appropriate test authoring and item banking software and management portfolios
- Development of the ability to utilize relevant software to analyse assessment data
- Intelligent interpretation of assessment results.
- Standards setting and maintenance, moderation and standardisation process activities
- Author and marker recruitment, training and monitoring
The second phase of the project will be the in-country Delivery of the Training Programme, the dates for which are still to be agreed. We would wish to incorporate a “training the trainer” session with a few staff nominated by CXC, the purpose being to develop in-house expertise in assessment training as a residual offshoot to the project. This will help to ensure sustainability of the training in the long term.
The third phase will be the Evaluation of the Training in operational practice, when we shall be able to judge the impact that it has had within a full CXC examination cycle. Finally, we will provide any other further advice and/or training support as may be required prior to the completion of the project.
Much of the above is however subject to the outcome of the Phase 1 visit, and we shall update this Case Study as the project develops in the spring and summer of 2011.
