A’Level disasters 😔😣

[OverTheRainbow88]

Any other schools been majorly hit?

KentMum81

There would need to be a very good reason for that not to be malpractice.

Just been listening to a radio station
A woman who has a son at Harrow school said that 80% of the grades were downgraded, so public schools have been affected.
Apparently, Harrow as an institution are appealing against the grades
The woman’s son was predicted A,B and C
but was awarded two E’s
Furthermore, it costs her 50k a year to send her son to Harrow

It’s dreadful, I’d hate to be young now.

I failed one of my A levels the first time - I am not entirely sure why - the whole class failed, so I don't think it was just me at fault. But no one prevented us from entering the exam hall and attempting the paper, and then 5 months later making up a grade.

I do largely put it down to Gove (And Cummings as his adviser) - if they had not tinkered with AS and A levels and course work, the kids now would have had 80% of work already marked which would have given a good indication of their abilities. This doesn't suit the Oxford types like Johnson, (or Cameron) who are basically lazy arses, who then pull something out of the bag at the last minute. (And even if they don't manage that, Daddy will pull a few strings for them to get a good job.)

It seems to just get worse the more posts I read.

What a goddam bloody mess.

so public schools have been affected

Yes - in subjects with larger classes they will have been subject to the same algorithm. The reason indi schools have benefited is because they have many more tiny classes, which have kept the CAGs.

I completely understand why Labour are pushing the "advantage to private schools line" But it's probably more of a benefit to smaller private schools - it's the small cohorts who are benefiting so much.

@Toptotoeunicolour

My son's private school has results lower than any of the past three years in some subjects. Whatever it is that is driving up private school's results, I can assure you it is not across all private schools.

It's an effect of small cohorts. Private schools are more likely to have small groups (four pupils doing German as an example) so they've come out comparatively better. But there's a school with a very deprived intake near me that's also done well because it only has small nos doing A Level. But larger private schools probably haven't fared significantly better than similarly sized state schools.

Mind you, I suspect that the Heads of Eton and Harrow grumbling to Johnson and Co will have much more clout than two dozen Heads of ordinary comprehensives would.

@Peregrina - exactly

twitter.com/butwhatifitsall/status/1293922254703730688

Hills Road 6th form college got its lowest ever results.

plunger teachers spent ages finding evidence to justify the grades they awarded. Than OFQUAL totally ignored this effort and just based it on rank order for large cohorts. If I was a teacher I would be thoroughly demoralizing by the way the teaching profession has been disrespected by the powers that be and ignorant people.
I screwed up one of my A Levels and I got ovwr it because it was my mistake. These kids did everything right but could potentially be screwed over.
Very fearful for dd next week who goes to a bog standard secondary but worked damn hard.

The figures fkr 6th Form Colleges are appalling. They have been more screwed than any other institution I feel @HPFA

Paper published in 2016 by UCL Institute of Education found only 16% of students achieved their predicted grades whilst 75% got a lower grade than predicted.
My 'university of life' included taking further A levels and from there to college.
Btw I was from a single parent household and eligible for free school meals

Has anyone actually touched on how this affects teachers pay?

Most lay scale adjustments rely on meeting standards I thought and a big part of that was based on a level and gcse outcomes using lee ious years.

So how many teachers who would have very likely hit those targets if exams were sat have now had a lay rise screw over?

@Plunger

Paper published in 2016 by UCL Institute of Education found only 16% of students achieved their predicted grades whilst 75% got a lower grade than predicted. My 'university of life' included taking further A levels and from there to college. Btw I was from a single parent household and eligible for free school meals

They are not the predicted grades being discussed here. UCAS grades are a very different thing to the CAG grades that were asked for then ignored.

As has been explained numerous times on the threads.

@Tavannach

I note "in some subjects" - just a suspicion that these subjects may have had in excess of 15 students and thus fell under the algorithm rather than CAGS? Yes maths and physics, large numbers, lots of downgrades

So more evidence that it's the algorithm that's the problem.
Interesting article in The Guardian about the parent who saw this coming and tried to warn Ofqal.
The father who foresaw algorithm flaws

It's not just the algorithm that's flawed - it's the ranking system.

So if a teacher had two students that were equally proficient they'd still have to decide who was better.

That difference in ranking could well mean the difference between one grade or another.

In the case where a class of children who were all fairly well matched it could mean a child who would reasonably be expected to get a C gets a U because the grades have been allocated on rankings and unfortunately whatever that child's ability the other children in the class ranked higher and took up all the grade allocations above the U.

I know the usual grading system relies on percentages but the problem here is that they've applied a "macro" algorithm to "micro" cohorts.

Someone said that the results won't affect league tables so I am hoping it won't affect pay rises either. That would be terribly unfair.

Yeah how fo you separate teo students of the same abillity. The whole thing is so crap.

They are not the predicted grades being discussed here. UCAS grades are a very different thing to the CAG grades that were asked for then ignored. As has been explained numerous times on the threads

A number of posters still seem to understand this very simple fact

I assume its because they haven’t read the thread...or links...or anything

Misunderstand the simple fact

😀

Obvs

Far too ignorant to do that @RufustheSniggeringReindeer

German National at son’s school downgraded from A* to C grade in German A level. How can Boris maintain that this system is robust and fair? It’s a complete farce

@everythingido

German National at son’s school downgraded from A* to C grade in German A level. How can Boris maintain that this system is robust and fair? It’s a complete farce

Yeah how fo you separate teo students of the same abillity. The whole thing is so crap

Yep. I had 8 students in my Y11 group who I would be confident would get C. Very close in ability, similar work ethic, the same teaching (me!). Because of the rank order - and at the time of doing this it was not mentioned that the CAG would be abandoned- chances are some may get a D.

That’s just so utterly shit. Now, maybe some wouldn’t have got it - but I have decided which ones those are, should we get downgraded.