By Chantalé Fletcher
THE coordination of more than 3,000 persons and 19,000 students for the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) is not an easy task.
Acting Director of Research and Evaluation of the Ministry of Education Mervyn Sambucharan revealed this during Tuesday’s Ministry of Education virtual presser.
He said, “That the Ministry of Education has ensured that the transfer of school packages, training for test administrators and arrangement for marking must also work in synchronous arrangement with all those factors.
“In order to ensure principals are well aware and have the necessary information available principal packages have been distributed to all schools and they would contain the students’ admission slips giving students bonafide access to writing of the exam.”
Sambucharan added they also were provided with a list of students receiving concessions and those sources of information would have been provided to all parents so affected.
He said, “In order to move scripts around for over 19,000 students. It must be emphasised that 553 examination centres will be incorporated for the housing of the students to successfully take the exam.”
“Examination scripts will move on the morning of July 1 to these various centres, and between the eight educational districts, seven in Trinidad and one in Tobago, there would be approximately 24 distribution points through which assessment supervisors can access their school packages.”
He said, “Scripts to Tobago will be transported to our smaller island a couple of days before the exam on July 1, and those scripts will be properly secured and vaulted till Thursday morning.”
Sambucharan said, “School supervisors will be managing these distribution bases and there would be facilities for them in terms of movement because this a very early morning exercise.
“Allowances for that movement of personnel will be provided through our TTPS and national security personnel.”
He said, “With respect to the training of test personnel centre managers, assessment and assistant assessment supervisors and our testers have all been provided with a test manual and a guideline for the administration of the exam.
Sambucharan added, “That unlike previous years, we would have met with these persons and run through how the whole process will flow out. We would now be moving to a full online distribution of that material and that has also been provided for our administration personnel.”
Therefore, testers, assessment supervisors and centre managers supervisors will all meet on Friday, June 25 at 9am to have a comprehensive run of their roles and responsibilities.
He also stated that the meeting is also to ensure that all standardised requirements as outlined in the test administrations manuals such as the order of the subjects, the timing and completion of the requisite forms are fully understood by every member of the invigilation team.
Sambucharan said no member of the Ministry scores the papers.
He said, “We have contracted service from the Caribbean Examinations Council and CXC has the sole responsibility to oversee the marking process.
“This exercise begins very soon after the administration of the exam, which after re-packing of the scripts will be transferred to CXC the weekend after the administration of the exam.”
Sambucharan said that CXC officers were already in the country due to the quarantine process.
In addition, he said, CXC has contracted over 500 educators with experience in marking procedures especially in Mathematics and English Language.
Sambucharan said the marker does not correct an entire script from cover to cover. However, the arrangement is that such people were trained in their particular number of items to develop efficiency and speed.
He said, “Alongside the marking process, simultaneously happening with the data captcha process, one ducktail into the other which will take place for another week or so.
“And once all scores are processed, CXC has the oversight to upload our scores into our online registration system, which has dual function to facilitate the Ministry of Education in the placement exercise.”
Sambucharan said the Ministry of Education has no ability to affect or change those scores.
He said, “The process for placement is followed rigidly and applied fairly across the board, so our students are given the best opportunity in terms of their choices.”
