Hi guys. Long term lurker and Dad of 18 Year Old who has done OK today (thank God). Always rely on MN for some sensible debate at times like this. Have no background in Education, but 25 years career in Data and Stats and obviously a vested interest in this fiasco. Set up an account just to make this one point. There are obviously lots of stories and different experiences here, and each and every one is a personal triumph or tragedy, so don't want to comment on individual cases other than to offer my heartfelt sympathy to all your children. In my view some form of standardisation was always going to be needed (all that the Scots have done is replace one unfairness with several others, between year groups and between more generous and more strict CAG centres) but the way its been done is poor, some appeal process for the exceptional cases was always going to be needed. The last minute English Mock decision is nonsense. The Welsh probably have the best solution (albeit one not available to Eng/Sco/NI) BUT you guys need to read this, if true that is the biggest scandal in all of this and really needs concerted investigation and action:
www.bhasvic.ac.uk/news/college-sector-asks-for-review-of-grades
Quote :"Our hypothesis is that the worrying results might be a quirk of the process, in which smaller centres with lower student numbers systematically had their centre assessed grades confirmed, resulting in a hit for the larger centres in order to minimise overall grade inflation. We also believe that the algorithm may not have taken value added data into account adequately"