A’Level disasters 😔😣

[OverTheRainbow88]

Any other schools been majorly hit?

They are going to be absolutely overwhelmed with appeals. I don’t know how they’ll get everything processed in time for university starting, especially when the procedure appears to still be being worked out,

They said the Govt will cover the cost of tbe appeal. I really hope that is true.

Appeals have always been free if they were proven to have made a mistake. Bit more spin on this than the truth from government!

Also - the grounds for appeal are very narrow Schools can’t just appeal because they disagree with the grade.

I’ve attached the student guide to appeals, in case it’s helpful.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/909525/Information_for_students_about_malpractice_20200814_1218_-_access.pdf

The take your mock grade was a weird concession as I thought you generally improve on mock grades. What a mess.

[quote SmileEachDay]Appeals have always been free if they were proven to have made a mistake. Bit more spin on this than the truth from government!

Also - the grounds for appeal are very narrow Schools can’t just appeal because they disagree with the grade.

I’ve attached the student guide to appeals, in case it’s helpful.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/909525/Information_for_students_about_malpractice_20200814_1218_-_access.pdf[/quote]
This has changed and they can now appeal on the basis of mock results (although we don't know the criteria yet)

This has changed and they can now appeal on the basis of mock results (although we don't know the criteria yet)

Really? I thought students could just choose to use their mocks (as long as they are “validated” whatever the fuck that means) Do you have a link to guidance saying schools can use the appeals process for this?

About the vote loser comments - I don't think people have short memories where their children are concerned, raising them/doing our best for them is for most parents the most important thing in life. If DC thinks this will go away he is misjudging. I cancelled my own subscription to the Conservatives last night over this and believe me, I've been one of the most ardent Tories you could imagine, the type they would bank on for their support forever. Added to which my ds will be voting next time.

@SmileEachDay

This has changed and they can now appeal on the basis of mock results (although we don't know the criteria yet)

Really? I thought students could just choose to use their mocks (as long as they are “validated” whatever the fuck that means) Do you have a link to guidance saying schools can use the appeals process for this?

It everywhere in the news. The exam board will decide whether the mock result is valid and will decide whether it can be used.

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-A-levels-and-gcses-will-need-appeals-mocks-count

itsgettingweird sorry I meant that the difference between private and state might be less at GCSE, not the difference between CAG and actual, because of generally larger subject cohorts. And to the poster who queried whether smaller class sizes in private schools made a difference - no, it's about smaller numbers of students entered for a subject. But for private schools there's a double whammy of some very small schools generally (which might have numbers below 15 at A level even for quite mainstream subjects), plus a greater ability to offer more niche subjects like Latin, Greek, various MFL etc, which will often have subject cohorts below 15 even in big schools. If all of those smaller groups are graded on CAG, then that will make that school's overall grades look better, even if they've been downgraded just as much as state schools for maths, English etc..

mrpumblechook

I don’t think they can appeal on the grounds of mocks. I think the school can lodge an appeal using the appeal criteria, then can ask for mocks grades to be used instead (provided they are validated).

So I don’t think a school can just say “look! They got ABC in their mocks and you gave them CDD.” There have to be other grounds for appeal.

But I could be wrong.

All the independent schools and grammars that I know of have suffered downgrades in the big subjects , chemistry, biology and English seem to be recurring themes, but the drops are less dramatic and mostly by one grade ( still catastrophic if holding an AAA offer as a B seems to have scuppered that, no flexibility at all given) . And the overall stats are compensated for by niche small subjects eg maths , German, Latin, Greek, mandarin and Japanese etc .

Sorry that should say music not maths !

@SmileEachDay

mrpumblechook

I don’t think they can appeal on the grounds of mocks. I think the school can lodge an appeal using the appeal criteria, then can ask for mocks grades to be used instead (provided they are validated).

So I don’t think a school can just say “look! They got ABC in their mocks and you gave them CDD.” There have to be other grounds for appeal.

But I could be wrong.

They haven't published yet how the mock result can be used in the appeal but nothing has been said about there needing to be other grounds for appeal so far.

Re votes I think this will matter. Memories are long regarding children. Remember tuition fees and the Lib Dems?

@Northernsoulgirl45

The take your mock grade was a weird concession as I thought you generally improve on mock grades. What a mess.

Does every child improve on mock grades? Is there any statistics and studies done on how many grades you improve from mocks to gcse? Obviously this won't be 100% reliable because when they take mocks varies schools to schools.

I only ask because my ds better in his mocks than expected. In all but English he exceeded his end of yr 11 target and predicted grade. But there were realistic imo for him. Well except science which he got a 9 which surprised us all - but he is food at science but he's not good at language which can be an issue.

I would expect his gcse results to pretty much match mocks and perhaps a drop in science but a 9 is very hit and miss for most I would have thought on the day anyway?

I will appeal if his results are lower (except science) but had got into my head anything matching mocks would be a fair grade?

mrpumblechook

I think - being generous- it’s a very confusing state of affairs.

Boris isn’t fit to lead. As we’re discovering time after time, crisis after crisis.

I don’t think they can appeal on the grounds of mocks. I think the school can lodge an appeal using the appeal criteria, then can ask for mocks grades to be used instead

Nope - the point of the new "triple lock" is that the kids can use the highest of valid mock, given grade, exams taken. They have not yet set out the criteria for "valid" mocks, so we are in limbo right now.

@Toptotoeunicolour

About the vote loser comments - I don't think people have short memories where their children are concerned, raising them/doing our best for them is for most parents the most important thing in life. If DC thinks this will go away he is misjudging. I cancelled my own subscription to the Conservatives last night over this and believe me, I've been one of the most ardent Tories you could imagine, the type they would bank on for their support forever. Added to which my ds will be voting next time.

Oh I've just realised my ds is also eligible to vote next time. I was getting my head around him being 16 next week and going off to college.

That's a whole other level of thought!

I’m a doctor. I was predicted ABB and ended up getting A*AA. That was ten years ago. If covid had happened to me I’d never have gone to medical school. I’m so gutted for them.

@BigChocFrenzy

A-Level results 2020: How have grades been calculated?

Worked real example for an anonymous school, unspecified subject, with reference to data specification links

A student can receive a "U" even if no previous cohort at the school did,
just because the algorithm has to fit the number of students in the defined ranking into the allowed % of "A', "B" etc
and can end up with nothing left to allocate except that "U"

ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2020/08/a-level-results-2020-how-have-grades-been-calculated/

This is so helpful - thank you for posting. So it seems that for the majority of schools the CAGs were not used or taken into consideration at all in the process? If this is the case then that might be grounds for a challenge to the whole process as I'm sure ofqual clearly stated that CAGs would be part of the decision making. I just can't see where they have used them at all?

I just can't see where they have used them at all?

For groups over 15 they haven’t been.

I dont think anything is guaranteed but I know dd was predicted certain grades and was within 1 and 10 marks of those grades. Unless she had a bad day I would expect her to achieve these with the education and practice she should have had. Won't mean a thing though. I sure I read schools were told to come up with CAGs based on this but these were ignored.

I am so gutted for the students. The government have really messed up here. The amount of moderating and justification of these grades in April has resulted in nothing. How dare they?
This algorithm doesn't work and it's penalising today's cohort from the standing of a school or college in the past. Awful.
Who at the end of the day would know better what the student could achieve on their best day? How silly of the government and for anyone to suggest the teachers over inflate their grades willy nilly? We are accountable for the grades we put down. It serves us best to be as accurate as possible and to never inflate them.
What is the damage here if the students got the grades they were predicted? These grades are only a passport to the next stage of education or work- no student will become a CEO straight off their A level grades. No student will sit through an entire 3 or 4 year Maths degree to then graduate if their predicted grades were inflated.

Stupid. Just so stupid. The only thing I hope will happen is that many international students from the ME and Far East choose not to apply or defer this year freeing up spaces and forcing some universities to be more flexible.

This is so helpful - thank you for posting. So it seems that for the majority of schools the CAGs were not used or taken into consideration at all in the process? If this is the case then that might be grounds for a challenge to the whole process as I'm sure ofqual clearly stated that CAGs would be part of the decision making. I just can't see where they have used them at all?

It is probably why mock results can now be used to appeal. Arguably the CAGs would/should have been based on these and it is a way of for the government to backtrack without losing face and/or flooding some universities.