Who else fell foul of English 'downgrading'? Feeling glum.

121prob,
wait for the remark, they may move her into course she wants. So sad!. We won the re-mark. Have hope!

Today's conversation as my 14 year old son comes in from first day back (year 10)

DS 'Prepare for a civil uprising'
Me 'Whats happened?'
DS 'Seriously, our Government is screwed' 'I've been given a target grade based on you and Dad, where we live, that sort of thing - completely ignoring the fact I am severely dyslexic'
Me 'Forget school targets. Make one of your own'
DS 'Ha! Apparantly my controlled assessment can't be graded because no one knows what grades they will be. Seriously, if the Government can't say if a bit of my writing is a C D or F or whatever, how can they run a whole country - who are they, Mum, democrats? Republicans?'
Me ' That's American politicians, ours are mainly Conservative with a few Liberal democrats helping them out because they didn't completely win'
DS ' Well I shall never ever vote Conservative, ever.' 'Am I really supposed to be taking this seriously?'

.......that's when I became stuck for an answer!

catwoo The marks for each component are converted to UMS (Universal Marks Scheme (see here for an explanation).

The CA was worth 60% of the overall grade so was the most significant component.

I don't understand really what the significance of grade for a CA is.I thought the overall qualification grade was made by the aggregate mark not by the grades each element was awarded.

Balia As I wrote this was actually English Literature IGSE and an example of the really anamolous results some of the private schools are reporting with those results rather than the wider scandal with English GCSEs. I have no idea why it has happened, the school has applied for complete moderation of CA but as with Wycombe Abbey this is a top performing school and girls they were expecting to get A* are down to A s and even Bs. 40% of the year at two top schools cannot have crashed and burned. It just underlines that the whole process has been a debacle.

The students this June have been incredibly unfairly treated - it annoys me that Ofqual etc keep going on about January - the grade boundaries for the exam (where the biggest hike was made) were the same in January and the June before, and even on the old syllabus, in terms of the percentage of marks a student had to get for a 'C' grade.

However, in this case -

girls who had achieved maximum marks on CA marked down to a B.

I'm not sure this can be entirely put down to grade boundary changes - the CA boundaries only changed by 3 marks, AFAIK - certainly a student with full marks for CA would have to do catastrophically in the exam (as in achieving perhaps an 'E') to only get a 'B' grade, as the CA is worth 60% of the mark. The grade boundaries haven't changed that much.

dd has been affected, she isn't academic but hoped and was on target to gain C's across the board. She has got C's in everything apart from English, she has missed out by 1 mark and got a D. Her school have applied for a remark.

The outcome of the D is that she hasn't got a place on the NVQ 3 that she hoped for and is having to start on NVQ 2.

mindgone - we've been told 30 days for a re-mark, with 14/9 being deadline to get form in.

The people who sat GCSEs years ago will on the whole have a whole CV, references etc that provide more current evidence that employers and unis will use to judge their application, plus they have the benefit of the perception built up by the media and Gove that the longer ago you sat exams at 16 the harder they were.

catwoo. The issue with this year is that some will have achieved C because they took part of it in Jan. Others who got D will have had the same mark but unable to achieve the C for the same work.

This will in turn have a knock on effect with applying to a 6th form place, or a college or even a job. Have you 5 Gcse's including maths and English. The Jan lot will be able to say yes, the June, no. Therefore the June lot could be losing out because the Jan lot will have a completely unfair advantage.

The consequences are huge. Same goes for those on the A/B border.
Am not wishing the Jan lot to be downgraded, just the June lot to be treated fairly considering they are all the same cohort, with the same marks.

It is unfair if that is the case.But you could apply the same argument to someone who did their GCSEs several years ago when grades were lower.

catwooand LettyAshton

The whole point is that the goalposts obviously moved this year, not that the cohort didn't have a comparable mastery of the subject or were significantly less able, or less well taught. Even Wycombe Abbey, amongst other top performing schools, are reporting results that clearly demonstrate that www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9512114/Private-schools-examiners-moved-goalposts-on-GCSEs.html The IGCEs English Literature result at DDs superselective were down 40% with girls who had achieved maximum marks on CA marked down to a B. At Wycombe they have 35% A*s when in every other subject but English and Music they have over 70% and they had 70% in English Literature last year. Of course these schools sit the exams at the end of Year 11 so they were particularly vulnerable to the impact of this cack handed meddling with the grades. As an academic who gets called on for advice on admissions and has a DD who just did GCSEs it is quite clear to me that we are going to get applications from pupils who have the mastery of the subject that would normally have enabled them to get an A, getting a B but we have no way of distinguishing them from those whose mastery would only have ever got them a B. Even Gove has admitted it was unfair, though I can't believe anyone thinks this wasn't political .

Don't have time at the moment to read all this thread, but my DS has just told me of a boy in his school who has just had his English re marked, and has gone from a C to an A*!

Sleepysand: "it has messed up the prospects and fragile self esteem of some really good, hard-working kids."

Er, if I'm looking at kids' GCSE results I'm interested in their mastery of the subject rather than whether their self-esteem is in tact.

As I see it , schools seemed to be arguing that when grades rose every year for the past 30 years , it is down to better teaching and better prepared students.But when grades go down it is grade deflation.It's got to be one or the otherf You can't have your cake and eat it!!
If this years exams are regraded then surely those pupils who took their GCSEs 20 years ago and every year since ought to have their grades adjusted too!

Late to the thread as been away.
DD absolutely devastated with AQA English result.
Had been told by school she had an A for the CA., also had an A for the mock, although target grade was B.
Ended up with CA downgraded to a B and a C for the exam with a C overall.
Looks like her UMS just one mark off a B - so will

School not concerned, as AC to C results best yet.
One of her friends, predicted A also got a C.
Unable to tell us whether rest will just be paper, or if CA has to be repeated also.

Although DD only going into yr11, will afect her 6th form applications quite badly. Really needed a B to be able to do subject not taken at GCSE.

Looks like her UMS just one mark off a B - so will be getting a remark.

Ofqal have admitted there is a problem with the English GCSE but say that with the variety of English style GCSE/IGCSE available it is hard to standardise correctly every time. I'm hoping as my DC did English there will be some movement there.

Ofqal are travelling to Leeds to speak to leaders there.

Is this all to pacify people or will they budge? My DC's school had over a 20% drop - a well regarded comp. My own grammar school following dual award had about a 5% drop.

Those schools severely affected really should be investigated and results scrutinized. It really matters to these children's prospects.

Oops pressed post! Yes, I am dreading trying to predict grades next year. I have no confidence in it.

I know exactly where you are coming from. My own ds3 had full marks in coursework and an A grade mock, and got a (top) C. We knew this would be his toughest module, but he should have got A overall. He has a B. That might stop him doing medicine, which is just awful and pointless.

Yes absolutely - the more pressure the better.

And sleepysand I know exactly what you mean about knowing a 'C' - so now what am I supposed to say to the new year 10 and 11's and their parents. 'Hi, your son/daughter has worked really hard. I haven't got a clue what they might get, though, depends what arbitrary figure the exam board decide on.'

I know I am not saying anything new but just have to say something somewhere- ds did not drop a mark on his two English Lang coursework modules and gained A*'s yet was graded b on his written English lang paper he took this summer -he has an A -we shouldn't moan I know but we are really shocked and I didn't think I could react like this to GCSE's. It is just he has work so very hard-don't know what else to say.

balia and sleepysand - absolutely agree. I'm an English teacher and have a son with lots of high grades who achieved a D in English. Am hopping mad! Have written to my MP.

It is just wrong for pupils and teachers to have this thrust upon them with no warning. I also thought Science results were expected to be affected next Summer and English a few years afterwards.

Pupils and teachers need to be aware and take on new exam challenges not sit papers in the dark.

What will be done? Please write to your MP's as Leeds Education suggested on BBC

oops! I meant I predicted Cs, with a smattering of Ds.

I should add that colleagues of mine and friends from other schools all experienced a similar shift. And that it hasn't done wonders for my self esteem either!

I'm an English teacher and what has happened is that the C grade boundary last year was 143; this year it is 163. The outcomes aren't comparable. I "know" a C when I see it - I have taught English for years and specialise in the C/D boundary - and I got Ds, with a smattering of Cs, where I predicted Ds, with a smattering of Cs.

It's a straightforward attempt to stop the Daily Mail etc banging on about grade inflation. I don't know if it is otherwise politically motivated (eg to promote the O level agenda). I do know it has messed up the prospects and fragile self esteem of some really good, hard-working kids.

English does have a new syllabus, that's true, but the disputed unit of the exam is the least changed section. The new syllabus paper is a lot longer and students have to do a lot more, but it is essentially the same as the old paper one with the writing section of paper two tacked on as well. Certainly the skills being tested and the format of doing so is largely unchanged. Teachers were assured that the new syllabus would be comparable - that is, students who demonstrated the required skill level to get a 'C' grade on the old system would get one on the new. That manifestly is not the case. The mark schemes for the previous June, January, and this June are almost identical in terms of the skills descriptors leading to a raw mark. So how can they justify students needing to do 9 marks better to get the same grade as last year?