The anomaly that led thousands of Grade 12 students in British Columbia to have the wrong exam grade applied to their transcripts has been resolved, according to Minister of Education Rob Fleming.
In a written statement, the minister said the tabulation issues were caused by a human error when someone tried to manually transfer data between systems.
"Staff have now checked the updated results for accuracy," he said in a written statement. "System checks and manual spot checks of results at every stage of the process have now confirmed their accuracy. Grades will be communicated directly to post-secondary institutions.”
The misapplication of grades to students’ transcripts involved five provincial exams taken on June 22 and 23. In total, the anomaly affected 32,000 students who wrote provincial exams in Communications 12, English First Peoples 12, English 12, French Language Arts (second language) 12, and French Language Arts (first language) 12.
The anomaly came to light Monday when a message posted through the ministry's online transcript service advised students of the problem and assured that ministry staff were working to identify and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education told The Tri-City News that staff were aware of the problem and had notified secondary and post-secondary schools across the province.
Now, Fleming said the ministry has contacted all post-secondary schools across Canada and NCAA institutions in the United States to make sure students applications won’t be affected for the fall.
Grade 12 students intending to enter Canadian universities in the fall are often accepted at their chosen institution based on marks that only reflect their first two terms of Grade 12 work. Students are accepted on the provision their final marks don't drop significantly, and with the deadline for final transcripts looming, some students feared the potentially incorrect results from provincial exams could jeopardize their plans.
"I am confident that students and families can now know their grades are correct,” said Fleming. “I know this has caused anxiety for students and their families, and I want to assure them that this will not have an impact on admission to colleges and universities.”
— With files from The Canadian Press
