Provincial Examinations - Adjudication

The adjudication process provides equity and accessibility to students with special needs by allowing adaptation to provincial exams. The adjudication policy is reviewed each year and current information on the adjudication process is located in Chapter 7 of the 2009-2010 Handbook of Procedures found at www.bced.gov.bc.ca/exams/handbook/ .

Changes to Adjudication for the 2009/10 school year

• Districts/schools are now responsible for approving adaptations to provincial exam conditions.
• Schools no longer submit a Request for Adjudication form, supporting documentation and IEP for each student to the Ministry. Schools now only send the form, Students Receiving Adaptations for Grades 10/11 and 12 Exams (page 150), which identifies those students who qualify for adaptations on provincial exams.
• Once a student meets eligibility criteria for the adaptations of spellchecker, text or voice recognition software, updated achievement testing (within two school years) after Grade 7 is no longer required. To be eligible for a reader or scribe, updated achievement testing, completed within two years of writing provincial exams, is still required.
• E-exams with the adaptations of spellchecker and text reader are only available during the January and June exam sessions for the required provincial exams. Practice e-exams with adaptations are available at: www.bced.gov.bc.ca/eassessment/eexams.htm .
• If students require braille or large print exams, schools complete the form Request for Special Format Grades 10, 11 and 12 Exams (page 149), and fax to the Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI) at (604) 269-0495. Contact Susan Hannigan, Library Systems Coordinator at shannigan@prcvi.org .
• If students need to write provincial exams out-of-province, schools complete the form Request to Write Exams Out-of-Province (Appendix A) and fax to the ministry at (250) 952-0460.
• If students are unable to write provincial exams due to 'unpredictable circumstances' (serious illness, accident or unforeseen situations), schools complete the form Request for Aegrotat Standing for Grades 10, 11 and 12 Exams (Appendix A) and fax to the ministry at (250) 952-0460.

Other Information

• Forms
  Request for Special Format Grades 10, 11 and 12 Exams (page 149) (PDF, 92KB)
  Students Receiving Adaptations for Grades 10/11 and 12 Exams (page 150) (PDF, 108KB)
• Important Due Dates (page 148) (PDF, 53KB)
• Guidelines for Readers and Scribes.
• E-exams
• E-exams are available at the E-exams website: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/eassessment/eexams.htm .
• E-exams with Spellchecker or Text Reader are only available during the January and June exam session for the following required provincial exams: English 10, Science 10, Social Studies 11, Communications 12 and English 12.
• Students are encouraged to do a practice e-exam prior to writing a secure e-exam. Practice e-exams with Spellchecker and Text Reader are available at: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/exams/search/ .
• Students who qualify for Spellchecker or Text Reader may access these adaptations when they logon to Secure e-exams-adaptations at: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/eassessment/adj_secure.htm . Follow the links by selecting the course grade (10, 11 or 12), exam subject (e.g. English 10), and then select a sample Released e-Exam Special Needs.
• If a provincial exam is not available electronically, students may use a word processing document for their open-ended responses. The student's responses must be printed and pasted or stapled under each question of the exam booklet.

For more information on the adjudication process, please contact:

Kathleen Edge
Co-ordinator, Adjudications
(250) 356-9386
kathleen.edge@gov.bc.ca