Grade inflation and leading independent schools in London and beyond

[quote opoponax]@bendmeoverbackwards but the intrinsic value of A Levels is to open the door to the next level isn't it. And no one really cares about A Level grades once you have your degree (and I suspect this is even more the case for those awarded in 2020 and 2021). The only way a retrospective adjustment would count is if the grades in hand yet to be leveraged were adjusted but then there would be a big in-year disconnect with the rest of the cohort who are already in situ having leveraged their initial grades.[/quote]
I only wish that were true @opoponax The pressure on students to achieve top grades, higher than their university offers, is immense. And for top independent schools A* grades sound so much better than As.

@YesterdayandToday , the schools
wont say anything because as all the letters and press releases say the grades were assessed in a different way and can't be compared to taking 1 set of exams. The Sunday times has an education journalist who is against private schools.

Yesterday: I am wondering what the senior people of say NLCS, SPGS, KCS, Wimbledon told the current parents after the news was released. And how will these schools justify to this year's students/parents when grades go down this year ...

The head at one of the schools mentioned was quite punchy and 'proud' of his students. I don't think parents will mind. The students hit by Covid have had a tough time across the board. If I paid school fees, I would want a little grade inflation myself for my dcs. People get it.

I'd be interested to see the results of your London day school ranking.

I meant to say I agree with FoggySpecs

Therefore, it is very likely that the result would be the same. A day school would under that regime also be likely to see their 30% A*s go up to 70% legitimately. Covid is shit but the truth is the private schools handled the teaching better.

Chantico: Which makes it really shit for those taking exams this year, after considerable disruption over the last two years, as they face a very uneven playing field with so many deferrals plus offers to those who already have higher grades. I dont know how much admissions tutors can do to be fair to this year's cohort

That is a very valid point. Generous grade boundaries will be how Ofqual is leveling up between the current batch of A level students with the previous. We are likely to see 2-3 years of inflated grades for the covid-hit batches. Which is unfair to the year after ... and so on.

Sorry I can't post from my phone but if you look on the hmc.org.uk website under press release section in their statement you can see their stats that show the % increase at A* A level was greater in state sector than the private sector. The letters printed in the Sunday Times last Sunday are worth reading too, the original article wasn't balanced.

The algorithm may have been accurate in some cases but it was very much skewed for certain types of schools so therefore totally unfair.

I found the algorithm pretty accurate tbh! But it was unfair at the bottom end for sure.

@FoggySpecs well maybe you need to cast your net a bit wider than London day schools if you are going to take a view on the effectiveness across the board.

Absolutely @ Phineyj the vagueness that left so much open to interpretation must have been a big factor in the lack of consistency between schools. Even if every single school were acting ethically, there would still have been variation because of that very factor. It was always going to be a very difficult situation to manage but the Government failed spectacularly in bringing clarity to the process. The algorithm of 2020 was an absolute joke.

I have studied the leavers destinations from London day schools informally over several years as I'm very interested in Oxbridge, Russell group and ivy league entrance.

There was certainly some sharp practice but Ofqual and the exam boards must take some blame here for setting up a spectacularly vague system and not quality assuring adequately.

@bendmeoverbackwards but the intrinsic value of A Levels is to open the door to the next level isn't it. And no one really cares about A Level grades once you have your degree (and I suspect this is even more the case for those awarded in 2020 and 2021). The only way a retrospective adjustment would count is if the grades in hand yet to be leveraged were adjusted but then there would be a big in-year disconnect with the rest of the cohort who are already in situ having leveraged their initial grades.

@FoggySpecs how can you make that generalisation without looking at the detail of leavers' destinations of the outliers (across types of school and at both ends of the spectrum)? And it's not just about the destinations last year. Some DC would have come out with much higher grades than anticipated and will only be leveraging them this year.

@chantico exactly.

I disagree that it’s too late. Many university courses ask for A grades, sometimes AAA and I bet lots of the mis-awarded grades should be A rather than A. So a student could be downgraded but still retain their university place.

But the issue is that this year's University places have already been awarded on the basis of last year's A Level results

Which makes it really shit for those taking exams this year, after considerable disruption over the last two years, as they face a very uneven playing field with so many deferrals plus offers to those who already have higher grades.

I dont know how much admissions tutors can do to be fair to this year's cohort

If ypu look at leavers' destinations in these schools rather than grades they weren't that different to usual.

Obviously an effective switch to online learning will play a part (there were great examples and awful examples in all school types) However, do you honestly believe that an effective switch to online learning can push a school from 29.1% A stars to 72.2%!!! (an example from the original post). If you follow that thinking, then virtual schools must be so much better than real life ones.

Oh my word. I was just looking at the job spec and blurb for a private school near me and I said to my husband - I decided not to apply when I saw they got 100% A* at Alevel. I would not be able to keep up with that kind of pressure.

Just seen this - seems it’s not their spectacular teaching and pupils after all …

That's true Foggy, I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps there was a genuine uplift due to all the extra time on their hands to study and all the extra tech.

I actually think they probably did this quite legitimately, those schools invested heavily in technology and teaching resources right at the start of the pandemic. Kids had great support from the school and parents from day one.

Teacher assessment had to follow guidelines, grades were awarded based on certain criteria, because most schools lost a lot of learning time, expectations for assessments were adjusted and lowered across all schools. Schools that continued to offer schooling as usual were able to go far beyond providing the minimum expectations which meant their students performed better and lead to grade inflation.

I think there is a danger of missing the point by just looking at the overall trends though. Overall grade inflation is an issue but if it were a uniform variation, a blanket adjustment could be made when comparing different years' results. In any case, there was always going to be a degree of grade inflation arising purely from the fact that the TAGs would exclude 'off days' that can and do happen to students every year. However, the bigger issue is the variation of grade inflation between schools (of whatever type) WITHIN the same cohort. For example, in my DC's schools they were super strict and over-tested if anything. Rigorous testing to come up with the grades they would have been expected to get in a normal year. No issue for us apart from a bit of a grind to get there. The one going to Uni far exceeded what he needed in any case. However, if you compare this approach with some other schools locally who were far more cavalier, there were kids getting grades they would never have had a chance of achieving in a normal year. Of course there are bound to be arbitrary winners and losers where the playing field is not level and that's where the real unfairness lies. How on earth do you adjust for that? It has cost some DC their University courses whilst others have lucked out. Something as important as this should not be a lottery.