checkBoxGroup default values

I am having great difficulty setting the default value of a checkBoxGroup

on the beforePageLoad event, I am setting a sessionScope variable which is the value of the selectItems

I am also setting another sessionScope variable which I am trying to out as the defaultValue - it is not working

I have tried setting the default list before page load, after page lod, hardcoded it in the defaultValue property as a static value - nothing I do will set the value(s) I want

Typically in this example, my values would be A, B, C, D, E, F and I am trying as a test to set the default values to A and D (even just trying to hardcode A is not working)

<xp:checkBoxGroup id=“checkBoxGroup1” layout=“lineDirection”

	themeId="contacts">



	<xp:selectItems id="journalidList">

		<xp:this.value><![CDATA[#{javascript:sessionScope.get("ScopeJIDList")}]]></xp:this.value>

	</xp:selectItems>

	<xp:eventHandler event="onclick" submit="true"

		refreshMode="partial" refreshId="repeat2">

	</xp:eventHandler>

</xp:checkBoxGroup>

TIA

Mike