BTL Group Ltd. is delighted to announce that the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC®), the premier assessment board across the Caribbean region, has selected the Surpass assessment platform to digitally transform its end-to-end examinations process as part of its commitment to shape the future of education and assessment within the region.
CXC® oversees assessments in schools across 21 Caribbean countries, often contending with the challenges of paper exam distribution and marking across a wide area, and subject to natural disasters like hurricanes.
To mitigate against these challenges, alongside concerns about the stability or lack of internet connections in some countries for online examinations, CXC® turned to Surpass.
The Surpass assessment platform, created by BTL, allows candidates to take an on-screen test in an entirely offline environment with swift response uploads, addressing concerns about the stability of internet connections for online examinations. This reduces reliance on printing and can be more efficient in turnaround time for marking and reporting results.
In addition to working together to bring thousands of current exams on-screen, BTL has been working in collaboration with CXC® to develop a new Custom Question Type (CQT) Framework. This allows Awarding Organisations to develop new, advanced question types or simulations that are specific to their needs. In CXC’s case, their Custom Question Types allowed for the assessment of the critical skills of manipulating graphs and developing scales, whilst maintaining an intuitive experience for younger candidates or those with lower technical proficiency.
Following the implementation of Surpass, CXC® has been growing its e-Assessments and with the Surpass Implementation, is planning to double its offerings in the coming years. CXC’s overall ambition is to move all their exams onscreen within three to five years.
“CXC® is mindful of the changing educational landscape which requires a strong technological focus on the digital transformation of teaching, learning and assessment. We are excited to be working with the team from BTL Surpass, who are helping us to move our paper-based exams to on-screen delivery.”“
Rodney Payne, Director, Technological Innovations at CXC®
The Surpass Platform is a fully integrated end-to-end solution (from item creation to delivery and marking onscreen), able to deliver offline or in areas of unreliable internet connectivity. This combined with a commitment to continuous investment and enhancement into products, future-proofs the approach.
CXC® recognised the significant benefits in adopting an item authoring and reviewing platform that provides increased security and quality assurance capabilities, a test driver application that supports fully offline testing for areas with intermittent or no internet connectivity, and a fully integrated end-to-end platform that does not require the exporting and importing of items and tests from one application to another.
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About CXC
The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC®) was established in 1972 under Agreement by the Participating Governments in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). CXC® assures the global human resource competitiveness of the Caribbean through the provision of syllabuses of the highest quality; valid and reliable examinations and certificates of international repute for students of all ages, abilities, and interests; services to educational institutions in the development of syllabuses, examinations and examinations’ administration, in the most cost-effective way.
CXC® comprises 16 participating countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos Islands.
The first examinations for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate® (CSEC®) were offered in 1979 in five subjects. Subsequent to CSEC®, CXC® has introduced a comprehensive suite of qualifications to meet the needs of the region: Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment™ (CPEA™), Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence® (CCSLC®), *Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ), Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination® (CAPE®) and the CXC® Associate Degree (CXC®-AD).
The organisation also collaborates with countries in the Dutch Caribbean – Curaçao, Saba, St Eustatius and St Maarten, as well as Suriname.
Additional information about the Caribbean Examinations Council can be found at www.cxc.org
*Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) is the trademark of the Caribbean Association of National Training Authorities. CXC® is one of the National Training Agencies in the Caribbean which awards CVQs.
