Coursework moderated from an A* to a C

[Fossie]

DD lost out on uni place as her Product design coursework (50% of her grade) has dropped from a borderline A* (according to her school) to a C which changes her overall grade from an A to a C. How is this possible? The school and her teacher are ‘puzzled’. This has happened to all in her class so all are affected. Neither firm nor conditional will take her now. Any ideas how to challenge this?

This makes me so sad. So cross. How can this be allowed to happen? I don't know enough about the whole way it works yet (oldest only at GCSE stage) but it just feels so very very wrong.

ChloeDecker is right on the process of querying marks for coursework. There's an opportunity to ask for a remark internally (often why some centres second mark everything before giving marks back to students)
This is an issue with moderation which is much longer to resolve.

"I am genuinely shocked that they might mark a sample and downgrade everyone based on a sample."
It's not that shocking really. If there's small movement up or down on a few folders but the rest are agreed then there's no cohort level changes. What would happen there is the moderator reportwould tell the centre what they need to be mindful of in future.

For a whole centre movement up or down, it is generally because across the whole sample the moderator deems marking to be noticeably out of threshold across all or the vast majority of the sample, which suggests the whole centre's marking and internal moderation is up for question.

It's why this situation with the OP is more complex because if its affected everyone then it's a much bigger issue and one that needs a lot of unoicking.

It happens in every coursework based course, unless the cohort is very small, in which case the whole sample is moderated by the exam board. Have you called the exam board for advice? I thought it was only the exams officer who could request a remark/script to be returned.

This is why so many exam boards are getting rid of coursework. Sadly, there will always be centred that cheat and essentially do the coursework for students, or who don’t bother reading criteria carefully enough and their cohorts are downgraded after moderation. It’s so crap for the students.

My understanding is that remarks are for written exams only.
It is possible for coursework to be remoderated but that is up to the school to organise rather than the parents / candidates themselves.
Being 4 grades out is worrying though would only expect 1 grade difference if teacher moderation is accurate.
The "sample" being sent off for moderation is only for large entries e.g. if 100 candidates are entered they may only look at 25-30 scripts but if there is a big difference between teacher marks and moderator marks they will send for a second sample and so on.
If there are only a small number of entries e.g. 20 then the whole class will be looked at. For Art subjects the moderator usually visits the school.
The moderator will write a report to the school to explain why the marks have been changed but this report will go to the teacher / Head of department so exams officer may not know.
I would contact the school again and see who will be around as there will be staff there for GCSEs as well.

It’s just not fair that students suffer for teachers’ errors. If indeed it is a teacher error. The students have done what was asked of them .

This happened to my dd at gcse, the whole class was downgraded 2 grades - thankfully dd got 100% in the exam but it still meant she got an a rather than a*

I'd be interested in finding out if it is all down to grade control e.g. only a certain amount of A*'s can be given out. My DD's was a small cohort so they would have all been individually moderated but I know for a fact that two girls within the cohort were not performing well and struggling to complete their projects - so I'm certain they would have been overmarked by the teacher. I guess when the moderator looks through the rest of a very small cohort it's easy to assume the teacher as over marked everyone (There is a tolerance and I can't remember how much this is - maybe 3-5% - DD's was out by 17%). DD's teacher used to be a moderator - so should have known better!

I'd be interested in finding out if it is all down to grade control e.g. only a certain amount of A's can be given out*
All the grades are worked out after coursework is in and moderated and after the final exam is in and marked.

It's for that reason that any talk of going down grades is inaccurate. Where a student has dropped or gained marks during moderation there is a discrepancy between the school and the board on how far they have met different assessment objectives.

oneteen
Ishould also add that's a rubbish situation. What probably happened is the teacher was a little generous overall to everyone (onthe grounds that as an ex moderator they could predict what could get through)and then with a couple of students they've pushed too far and in a small cohort it has backfired massively.

@Emilyontmoor
Sacked the teacher? I find that hard to believe. It's incredibly difficult to simply sack a teacher for poor performance. Incredibly difficult.

This exact same thing has happened to my son, his A level photography was A marked coursework (every piece of work over two years was marked A or A) but on results day yesterday we were told the whole class had been moderated and they all went down 4 grades hence he ended up with a C grade and lost his place at Uni. We had to go into clearing and he has another place at another uni but has to do a foundation year on top of the course so will cost more. I have been emailing the school as I am fuming and they say they are getting the moderation reviewed but that could take weeks. The other thing is the teacher is a moderator herself so should know what she is doing shouldn't she? I really don't understand how something can be marked down this much, either the teacher is useless or the exam moderator is but it's really not fair on the poor kids who have put 2 years of hard work in.

Can none of you understand, that if an outsider read this, their automatic response would be to wonder how it was allowed to be decided so late?

"I am genuinely shocked that they might mark a sample and downgrade everyone based on a sample."

This is standard with Fine Art/ Photography etc as well. You have to be so careful when you are marking with your dept. If the cohort is small and 1 project is out they could drop all of them.

The Headteacher and head of sixth form are ‘out of office until September’. Poor show.

Sorry this is a bit long, but I’m trying to explain how work is moderated.

It is standard practice to downgrade all candidates from a centre if the moderator perceives there to be significant inaccuracy in the original mark. This document explains the process

how moderation works
but there is a summary here:

I think the third option has been applied in OP’s case.

There are four possible outcomes of the moderation process:

(i) There is no difference between the between the centre’s marks and the moderator’s marks for the sample - so the centre’s marks are accepted for all candidates

(ii) There are only small differences between the centre’s marks and the moderator’s marks for the sampled candidates - so the centre’s marks are accepted for all candidates

(iii)The differences are greater but the moderator generally agrees with the centre’s rank ordering of the candidates so the technique described in the document above is used to adjust the marks of all candidates.

(iv)There is significant disagreement between the moderator and the centre’s rank ordering of the candidates so further work is looked at. In extreme cases this may lead to the moderator’s marks being imposed for all candidates at the centre.

From this year candidates HAD to be given 10 days notice of their marks before they were submitted to the board, in order to allow them to appeal the marks if they thought they were wrong. This has made it harder to appeal but you can try.

I find it unlikely that marks will have been reduced because of “too many high grades being awarded” as the Moderator’s marks will have been submitted before grade boundaries were decided.

OP please email the Headteacher, as this is time critical. Ask DD if she was given notice of her marks and made aware of her right to appeal before submission.

Can none of you understand, that if an outsider read this, their automatic response would be to wonder how it was allowed to be decided so late?
I'm not following what you mean.

The work was marked internally. The work was moderated internally. The marks for the centre go to the board for the board's deadline. Between the board's deadline and A Level results day the board moderate the marks and the marks are allocated to candidates (extra samples are called if needed at this point).On A Level results day the candidates get their marks and grades for each component, one of which is coursework. The release of A Level results is A Level results day.

How incredibly frustrating. But bbc are still excellent grades so surely she could find some options in clearing. If they haven't gone of course.

OP that really is dreadful - the lack of interest from the school and the fact that the very two people who should be helping with appeals/ remarks are uncontactable. I would email the Chair of Governors. I’m really sorry - it may not help your DD but the school needs to review their post examination procedures for the future.

Wow
I’m so shocked at this
Not shocked that teachers can grade differently to moderators but that it can only become apparent on results day and that the teacher would be abroad and the rest of the staff unavailable!

Your poor DD
Seriously poor effort of the school

My DSis is a teacher and goes in for results day and is as nervous as her pupils. All the heads of subject and years and the head of school are there too- checking the results and supporting the kids.

Really shocked that your DD has no support with rethinking her options urgently whilst clearing is still taking place.

Can you name anf shame the school?
I’d really want to avoid it

Benjispruce

It’s just not fair that students suffer for teachers’ errors. If indeed it is a teacher error.

It is a very big if, although a lot of DT courses are being taken for the first time this year. on what can only be described piss poor examples and information.

The students have done what was asked of them.

Again a big if.

I once spent months chasing a pupil for a specification, without this one piece of work it took the marks from 90 to 10, every part of the NEA was linked in someway to the Specification.

Dreadful that your DD has no support for clearing. I would look at clearing and options not just re taking. Have you spoken to UCAS to understand options?

@LolaSmiles - You described the situation as it was with my DD, it didn't help that the head of DT was actually the DHT's wife...who failed to respond to every email I sent!

The issue with these type of subjects is that they are wide open from a number of angles - teaching to ensure that DC has fulfilled the assessment, teacher's own assessment, the performance of other DC within the same subject and finally moderation. It doesn't matter if the coursework marks are given to DC because these can then be adjusted by external moderation.

It's not just the Op's school - my DD's school were also appalling and I think you will find that most schools feel helpless in this situation because there is little they can do ...because their own marking is being questioned.

that the teacher would be abroad and the rest of the staff unavailable!

Teachers are on holiday and are not paid for results days. Do you go in to work on your annual leave days?
Exams Officers are paid for those days. They can query moderator reports. However it does take time because the exam board makes it so.
Be annoyed at the exam boards that are paid huge amounts by schools but get teachers to do most of the work for coursework subjects in hours and hours of marking for free and moderated by anyone who applies, even non teachers.