GCSE Results Day 2017

I thought everyone did Eng Lit! They have, and the best mark from Language OR Literature is what the school is measured against.

Bertrand - No noses out of joint here, so no need to give it such an unpleasant the twist. Just trying to understand the new grading system which I obviously now get.

If you are really interested, see here for details of how the grade boundaries were and and the rationale behind it. But only if you are really interested!!

Why is Eng Lang a much lower percentage?
I think, it's based on which mark is the closest cut off to keep the 'rare' %.
So maybe if they'd gone 1 mark lower thrn the proportion of 9s would have been significantly higher.

Because it's norm referenced and tied to the distribution of marks each year, there will be some variation.

If I'm honest, i hated the new specs when they came out and now i massively prefer them for most students.

It's why the way to support children to get a 9 is to stretch them, not look for daft gimmicks to tick boxes. Students themselves need to really deepen their subject knowledge so they can apply it to any question or text that's thrown at them.

This is a subject in itself. I can't help think that the more information you give people, the worse it is. I hear you teachers groaning "Hell yeah!"

Okay I accept I maybe assuming a bit, as I have no statistical evidence for what I'm saying.

Until tiggys explanation of what the 9 grade meant I actually thought it was like a trajectory of grades in a straight line. Where I schooled, we actually had a similar grading system, but it was easier to understand because we had 3 different types of A's. So an A1, A2 and A3, we had 3 different types of B's also, 2different P's for pass).
I think because it's here it's being done in numerical form, it's less clear that it's all 7,8 and 9 are all part one grade (top grade)..

Because they didn't take exactly the top 20% of grade 7+, but used a formula to get around 20%. So a small difference between subjects.

Oh and not forgetting noble, you see I didn't know that, I thought everyone did Eng Lit!

Incredible patience from Maisy, TheFallen and Tiggy . I really appreciate it!

Why is Eng Lang a much lower percentage?

Because everyone takes English language. The brighter the subset of the cohort that takes a subject, the higher the percentage of students that will get a 9. Subjects like Latin will have a massive percentage of students getting a 9.
Only the brighter students were put in for Lit as well as Lang.

Incidentally, my ds'a secondary modern had 4 9s-2 in Lang, 1 lit and 1 maths.

The reason perhaps some people see dozens of children getting a Grade 9 is that their children or friend's children happen to go to a high achieving school. The top 3% of children by ability are unlikely to be spread fairly across all schools - they are in clusters.
This
There are exactly as many Grade 9's issued this year as there were expected to be - around 3% per subject. And 3% by any definition is rare
This

I wonder whether a few noses are out of joint because there were more 9s than expected! Waiting for the chorus of "Well it can't be that rigorous if so many people got them. And from conprehensive schools too!'

3.5% in Maths, 3.2% in Eng Lit, 2.2% in Eng Lang.

Why is Eng Lang a much lower percentage?

It is as rare as stated before the results came out. 3.5% in Maths, 3.2% in Eng Lit, 2.2% in Eng Lang. If you are at a school with an over average results, there will be more than 3% of students getting them. Some schools will have less than 3%. Perceptions will be different in those schools.

I think though it will take time for people to get used to the fact that Grade 9 isn't a Grade in it's own right as such though. It isn't something you can meet a number of criteria for and then be awarded. It is just a capped % of the top grade 7-9 grades for that year group.
Grades 7-9 are the top grades and a group in their own right. They are retrospectively (after marking) divided in a predetermined way to differentiate between the top and bottom of that band.

Very helpful.

I completely understand how the new grading maps across to the old system. I perhaps didn't explain myself properly. What I mean is in lay people's minds, a 9 is the old A star. Because it's simply not as rare as we were made to believe. I don't know how else to explain what I mean.

I think Tiggy's explanation in her last post, last paragraph actually explains the 9 grade very well, that it's part of a 3 part top grade.

It isn't like other grades where they give a set of skills that they expect a pupil of that ability to demonstrate (the grade descriptors)

The grade boundaries for the 4 and the 7 were set by proportions of students and the boundaries for the 5 and 6 were set arithmetically between them. Same for the 2 and 3 set between the 1 and 4, and the 8 set between the 7 and the 9.

Any grade descriptors are nonsense as who got what depended on cohort performance not on grade descriptors.

It's neither the new A nor above an A. A smaller proportion of students got a 9 than got an A* last year. It is the top 3ish percent of marks in the exams. That's it.

Delighted to say our gritty inner-city Comprehensive has supported a good representation of Grade 9s across all 3 subjects.

It's looking like 9 is simply the new A*, rather than above an A star which is what it's meant to be. Every other grade will follow that pattern and so the average to lower ability kids will be the ones who suffer most.