School refusing to give GCSE predictions

How on earth can the students be expected to know their areas of weakness of they are not given feedback on exams?

Well they're not going to sit the exams so not sure it would make much difference? They just need to focus on working hard consistently over the next few months.

ATL is attitude to learning.

Agree with a PP that this year is v different. Last year it was grade what you think they would have got. This year its grade them where they actually are.

birthdaybadger I am a state school but we usually perform well.

We gave students the 2018 paper start of year 11 as they missed the Year 10 exams. So they have had results from those papers. They also had data point reports with Estimated Final Grades. My students haven't asked about the mocks as I think they know the predicament. As it happens they did worse in the mocks.

I think if parents get mock results they will expect this to be the final grade. There are other deciding factors. It just gives parents something to use against schools if they're not happy.

This is where there will be a worrying divide between disadvantaged and other students.

We have some A level students appealing for about the 4th time - they should have just done the retake in November 🤷🏻‍♀️

One other issue is that there is no 2020 paper to use to work out grades.

For my subject we only have GCSE papers from 2018 & 2019 as new spec started 2016. It's really hard to make important judgments.

We also aren't giving 'predicted grades'. They know their targets, they've known them since year 9. Given how little work we've been able to properly assess so far, and the fact that we have no idea what the criteria will be, it would be vastly unprofessional to 'predict' a grade right now.

[quote Sleepthief]**@BirthdayBadger* I'm not sure what @queenofthelamas* means by results embargo either, as I know from experience (teacher/daughter of teachers) that schools only get the results the night before and very few are privy to those...[/quote]
We get them about 24 hrs before. And often, if there are obvious anomalies, we ask for them to be remarked, which happens so quickly the students are none the wiser when they get their marks the next day.

[quote BirthdayBadger]@noblegiraffe - this is probably me being thick, but surely if school mark their own mock exams, or even without mock they can make predictions then they must know something of what the assessment criteria is?[/quote]
Not for Y11. Last year centre assessed grades were what we thought a pupil would get had they continued with education as normal and sat their exams in June as expected.

This year it is proposed that we assess the grade that they are currently working at. This is an entirely different assessment and no standards exist to measure this against. We await further information.

They won’t tell you as you’ll complain if they don’t achieve their ‘predicted grade’ which is a highly educated guess (but still a guess) at the best of times. Last year we got a few pretty horrible complaints. This year will be a nightmare as parents are wise so schools won’t share anything that puts their neck on the line.

How on earth can the students be expected to know their areas of weakness of they are not given feedback on exams?
You don't need a grade for this. In fact a grade detracts from the process.

Most schools are refusing to give any sort of grade related information out. We've stopped reporting on year 11 attainment and only giving ATL. This is to stop any possible parental legal action afterwards if the gcse grades awarded are below a students mock grade.

@queenofthelamas in my experience schools are given the results the day/night before they are released to students.

@BirthdayBadger What your school is doing/refusing to do seems both unreasonable and unnecessary!

@BirthdayBadger taken from google 'An embargo period covers the defined period of time where early access to embargoed examination results is given. This allows universities and colleges to prepare and make decisions by the official publication dates of exam results.'
It also allows exam boards to carry out some checks of results etc.
So yes we do have the results before they are released to students however they are not shared with everybody in the school just those who need to know

@BirthdayBadger I'm not sure what @queenofthelamas means by results embargo either, as I know from experience (teacher/daughter of teachers) that schools only get the results the night before and very few are privy to those...

@BirthdayBadger I meant five days from March to July (end of y10 year, rather than calendar year). They were in pretty much up to October half term (bar two days) but the half term to Christmas was really disrupted!

@BirthdayBadger my son is also in y11 but at a state school. He was given predicted grades, which were an amalgamation of their Y10 achievement ladders from February 2020 and assessments the school carried out in the autumn term in class time, under the expectation GCSE results would come down to teacher assessment. We were given those grades so our children could apply to sixth form, but were also made aware they weren't real predicted grades based on anything quantifiable.

It's totally ridiculous.

How on earth can the students be expected to know their areas of weakness of they are not given feedback on exams?

@AnotherNewt what Y10 summer tests? Current Y11 got maximum 5 days in school from March to end of year. Many haven't been able to do locks this school year either because of self-isolation and bubbles bursting.

[quote BirthdayBadger]@xyzandabc don't you feel unnerved by this?[/quote]
Not hugely. I know the kids are doing the best they can (which may be lots for some and hardly anything for others, but still the best they can). We were lucky that both yr11 and 13 did have mocks in November and December. The vast majority of students took them far more seriously than any previous cohort have ever done. Though obviously there are a few of each that didn't manage to get in to school to sit then through isolating/illness etc.

I'm hopeful that they will get back in to school in March and then they will be able to show what they can do. I'm sure most subjects are planning mini assessments and seeing the students in person will give the teachers a much better idea of what level they are working at.

I'd much rather wait until the criteria for grades are known than ask teachers to make a stab in the dark at an unknown marking criteria.

@BirthdayBadger not independent here!

It's a bit like the results embargo. We know GCSE results before we reveal to students. The reason is to open out any flaws and stop any issues arising