Centre assessed grades moderated down by school before being sent off

[Need2know12]

Hi,

Has anyone else had this experience?

My son's school has admitted for one subject that my son's initial CAG for that subject was an A, but they moderated it down to a B because of the ranking system. There were I think 3 pupils above him in that subject- but the school have said that "because no two students were allowed to be placed at the same level several students who were very close in ability have received different results, in order that the school fitted its CAG -value added pattern to match historical school data as required by Ofqual when guidance on centre assessed grades was issued."

Is this right? Or correct in their evaluation of the process that they needed to follow? To dig the knife in I know that some schools did over-inflate their pupils' grades and when the algorithm which initially penalised them for doing so, was ditched , their pupils received those grades.

Struggling here with the fact that my son who worked hard over the 2 year course can now not go to his first choice university, and may not have the same opportunities in his life.

Has anyone had the same experience?

The advice to schools included being mindful of previous years' results and that in reality, there isn't usually a huge difference in results from year to year (with a link to data), but also that the grade they gave should be a true reflection of the grade that they thought that the pupil should receive. Personally, I would have thought that that last bit (I think it came higher up the hierarchy in the real thing) should have been the school's guiding principle, but it appears that several - ??under the guidance of one of the professional associations - seem to have tried to sort of second guess what the Ofqual treatment of their original assessment would be.

I don't think that DS2's school (state grammar) was one of them, as the word is that the results were both good and as they thought they should be.

Do you think there may be an argument I can submit to the school that they allowed previous historic data to influence their decisions on what to award individual students as a CAG because they did not want to be highlighted as a school who did not follow the rules and in effect are guilty of maladministration by not submitting the grades ( or grade in my son’s example) that they thought he was most likely to achieve in the exam. They have admitted they thought he would get an A, ( he had an A also in the mock which was a past paper and sat in exam conditions) and originally gave him an A as a CAG before moderating it to fit in with the school’s past history of grades.

I have an email they sent to my son’s first choice of university explaining all of this- so I have the proof so to speak-

Are you aware of a Facebook group called A level grading issues (algi) OP? There are a number of interested and informed parents there, including those who advise others on the grounds for appeal. Might be worth you joining, if not already a member

Yep, this is absolutely a thing. A number of colleagues were caught out by it because pupils complained directly to them about their CAGs and the staff were unaware that SLT had moderated down the grades they'd submitted. That's why they're centre-assessed grades and not teacher-assessed grades as they've been called so much in the press.

My DS lost his university place due to just this.

He is sitting the October exams and having a forced gap year due to his school doing this. They even emailed us to say that when he reapplies via UCAS their prediction for the October exam will be grade he was predicted in March after his mocks. So why did they give him a lower CAG to what they predicted in March and this coming October?

His school trying to second guess the moderation system took his university place away from him. Next weekend he should have been going off to university, instead he will be in his room revising and doing past papers determined to get the grades he deserves.

My school kept our results in line with previous years on the basis that we were expecting them to be moderated and if they deemed us to have over inflated the results they would have lowered them all. There were instances where we had too many of a grade and someone had to go down.

This was inline with the guidance we had been given, other schools may have chosen to inflate and take the knock downs if they happened but with a huge loss of control.

The u turn meant that wether your school followed the guidelines given or chanced inflated grades they were given as is.

I’m sure if all schools could go back they would have taken the inflating option and got away with it.

I’m sure if all schools could go back they would have taken the inflating option and got away with it.

And if they ever ask for CAGS again then schools will be over inflating them even more to try and beat the other schools.

A third of schools did this and some of their students are disadvantaged as a result. The affected schools have asked to resubmit their CAGs but I don't think the government are doing anything about this and I am not sure if there is an appeals process for individual grades either. The original government advice was contradictory and this led to some schools submitting moderated grades and others submitting in some cases optimistic grades and getting away with it after the government u turn. I do not think it is the schools who submitted the moderated grades fault but the system was most unfair as in subjects with a small student group the student ability level this year could be completely different to the two preceding years. I think schools should have been given clearer guidelines on calculating grades and they should have looked back at the actual year groups GCSE results to moderate A level results rather than looking at A level results of different groups of students in the two years above who might have been a less able cohort.

Thank you so much. I was not aware and this is exactly the kind of help I need. Was feeling rather alone amongst it all as most people don’t seem interested- when it hasn’t happened to them obviously...

www.facebook.com/groups/Alevel2020exams/?ref=share
This is the group @Need2know12. I've just checked to see if it's still operational after mentioning it to you. It looks like it is and they're collecting examples where candidates have written proof from centre of downgrading following teachers' assessment.
I can see that the grounds for appeal is very limited but you still might find clarity there

Hi,

Where is the guidance that specifically states that schools need to match previous years results? In my understanding schools were asked to take into account previous years results in order not to be overtly optimistic, but not to match like for like?

Thank you. Much appreciated.

Hi @chocolatviennois

I would be very grateful if you would point me to where in the guidance it was contradictory. Thank you very much.

@Need2know12 There were various articles in Schools Week about the issue in mid to late August. Eg. the one below. If you have a look at Schools week articles from around 20th August onwards you will find further relevant articles.

schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-that-followed-advice-to-deflate-grades-must-now-be-given-appeal-route/

@ chocolatviennois Thank you

Exactly the same thing happened to my DS although luckily he did not lose his university place.
It's very hard for them when they hear of friends at other schools who were working at the same level as them (or lower) who went on to receive much higher grades.
Unfortunately though we are in the minority and therefore I feel like nobody wants to know.
Our school have I believe complained and appealed as they are as gutted as the students affected.
I would urge anyone affected to contact their local MP as the more of us that do then the more chance of something happening.
It really is a totally unfair situation and very hard for your average 18 year old to accept.