WAU’s Dr. Scriven Takes On French Baccalaureate Inspector Role

As the 2023-24 academic year wrapped up in early May, Jonathan Scriven, the Associate Director of the Honors College, was beginning to think about exams. Not exams for his international relations and political studies courses at WAU – those were already finished. Instead, his focus turned the French national exam – the ‘baccalaureate’ — given to students as they complete their final year of high school.  The ‘bac’, as it is known in France, is a series of exams in a number of subject areas that students must pass in order to move on to colleges and universities. Each exam can last as long as four hours. To put it mildly, it’s high stress! The Bac, which has been part of French education since it’s implementation by Napoleon Bonaparte it in 1808, is a right of passage that French students both dread and revere.

Dr. Scriven is familiar with the Bac. He spent 12 years teaching at the Centre International de Valbonne (CIV), an international French lycée just outside of Nice, France. The CIV offers an international version of the Bac exam called the  Baccalaureate Francais International (BFI) which allows students to take their history and literature courses in a language other than French. Scriven taught history, geography, and politics to students preparing for the American Option of the bac exam. Today, 3 1/2 years after leaving France to take the position he has at WAU, he is once again involved with the exam, but this time in an administrative role, not a teaching one.

“It’s a little complicated, but I think I can explain it briefly,” Scriven says. ‘I am now what is called an Inspecteur Délégué for the History and Geography programs. I basically have three functions: 1) I work with the French government on issues related to creating the History/Geography program that is taught and the exams that are given, 2) I help moderate the grading of the exams, 3) I provide support to all the schools that are part of the American section of the BFI. So, instead of teaching and examining the BFI program, my role is now to oversee the exams as an Inspector – making sure the exams are fair, being conducted appropriately, and being graded fairly. ”

There are two Inspecteur Délégué positions in the American Option, each appointed by the French Ministry of Education. Together, they oversee exams all around the world. 

‘Even though this is French exam, it’s important to remember that there are French lycées all over the world, including one not far from our campus in Bethesda, MD ,’ Scriven explains. ‘Because different countries have different academic calendars, it can get pretty busy in the Spring. French schools in North America tend to do their exams in May and schools in France, Europe, Africa, and Asia tend to do theirs in June.’

The BFI program includes a four-hour written test and a 20-minute oral exam and each falls under the purview of the Inspectors. They work closely with officials from the French government to create the exams, a process that takes several months and includes input from teachers who teach the program. Meetings in Paris each October help set the course for the year and involves meetings with Heads of Schools, government officials, and teachers. Once the exams are created, the next step is to work with examiners to coordinate how the exams will be graded. That process involves working with nearly 50 examiners to create and follow a detailed grading rubric.

‘We call it harmonization,’ Scriven says. ‘Basically, we are trying to make sure all the examiners are grading the written exams the same way. It is critical that what one examiner sees as a good exam is the same as what another examiner sees as good exam and visa versa. By harmonizing our grading we can ensure that students are getting fair grades.’

This can get tricky when more than 1000 high school seniors take the exams in any one academic year. To add to the complexity, examiners are teachers from lycées all around the world – from France to South Africa to Canada to Japan to China.

‘It’s a lot of Zoom sessions, that’s for sure.’ Scriven says with a laugh. ‘Luckily we have a lot of support. We have academic coordinators in each region and they do most of the work in terms of working with teachers on how to to teach and exam the academic program.’

If the written exams seem like a lot of logistics, the orals exams present even more complications because to effectively moderate orals exams, Scriven and his colleague must be present during the exams. In North America and Asia, this is often done virtually via Zoom, but in France – where more than 700 orals exams take place each year – the exams are in person, with students and examiners physically in the same room.

‘There are essentially three of use – two Inspectors and another Moderator – who try to see as many exams as we can over a 4-5 day period in early June,’ said Scriven. ‘It’s good deal of traveling around France trying to get to as many exam centers as we can. Over the course of one week, the three of us typically visit 7 or 8 exam centers and observe about 50 exams.

And why are they observing orals? Scriven explains that, once again, the idea is to create uniformity. ‘There are very specific ways the exams are conducted, with certain questions, a certain rapport, and certain expectations. I am in the exam room to watch the examiner, not the student. When we observe oral exams we can make sure each examiner is doing roughly the same thing and grading in similar ways. This is really important in terms of making the entire process fair for the students.’

Historically, Inspectors are appointed from US universities or other education institutions. Previous Inspectors have come from the schools such as the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, The American University of Paris, and Harvard University. 

‘I’m really honored to have this role,’ Scriven said. ‘The teachers around the world that I get to work with are just incredible and so diverse. Just a pure joy to work with them. I’m also happy to represent WAU and the Honors College in the work that I do. Plus, it’s always fun to hear someone from the French Ministry introduce me as professor from Washington Adventist University.’

Once the 2024 exam cycle finishes in late June, Scriven and his colleagues will almost immediately begin planning for the 2025 exam. Throughout the summer they will meet with teachers, administrators, and government officials to review the previous year’s exam and begin the process of creating exams for next year. 

‘We’ve already started the process for next year,’ says Scriven. ‘Just this week I had a meeting to review some of the issues that arose this year and to prepare for how to make next year’s exams session even better.’