The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), the regional governing body that oversees secondary and post-secondary credentialing across the Caribbean, has released comprehensive new details outlining a major overhaul of its School-Based Assessment (SBA) framework for two of its core certification programs: the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
Under the newly restructured assessment system, all CSEC and CAPE subjects have been sorted into three distinct classification groups based on how internal school-based evaluation will be structured moving forward. The first group consists of subjects that will keep their existing SBA model unchanged, preserving the current balance of in-school assessment and external examinations. For the second group, the SBA component will be expanded significantly, and the separate Alternative Paper 032 — a previous alternative assessment option for private candidates and institutions unable to complete full SBA requirements — will be phased out entirely. The third and final group will eliminate traditional SBA altogether, relying exclusively on the Alternative Paper 032 to measure student competency.
To bring full transparency to these changes, CXC has published public classification tables that clearly label which subjects fall into each of the three categories. The council has also urged students, classroom teachers, school administrators, parents, and other education stakeholders to review the organization’s updated frequently asked questions (FAQ) resource, which offers a granular breakdown of how the reforms will affect different stakeholders, implementation timelines, and answers to common concerns.
In a statement accompanying the release of the new framework details, CXC emphasized that these sweeping reforms are not arbitrary changes, but a deliberate step aligned with the organization’s long-standing core mission. The reforms are designed to ensure that CXC-issued qualifications truly capture the full scope of a student’s knowledge, practical skills, and authentic academic achievement, all while upholding the strict standards of integrity and educational excellence that the regional examining body has built its reputation on over decades of operation.