Media coursework moderated from A* to a D

[FancyBird]

DD got an A* grade by her teacher and after receiving results, this dropped to a D. Her teacher has left, and I am wondering how this grade could drop by so much. The school does not want to get it remarked as they say they would have to remark the entire class' work. Is this a thing? What can I do?

Is there no chance that the error could be elsewhere?

Where?

I really think you're on a hiding to nothing here and would be better spending time and energy on plan B.

Do you see absolutely no error here then? is there no chance the exam board got something wrong? Paper 1 was an A, paper 2 (which she was absent for) a C and coursework dropped by 32 marks.

Well, paper one might have been marked incorrectly.
They might have calculated the mark for paper 2 incorrectly.
The moderator might be wrong about the coursework.

But unless the centre is willing to have the whole cohort remoderated, there is nothing to be done about the coursework.

I was about to ask how many marks it is. If more than one student was affected it doesn't sound like an inputting error. I'm fairly sure DD can ask for the NEA from the school. But that would only be so another media expert could look and let her know where the marks were lost, probably in conjunction with the report.

It seems highly unlikely to me that your DD's specific piece isn't alluded to in the report.

I don’t see it can hurt for DD to ask at school, OP.

But resilience is important and there are some good options in Clearing this year.

DD can politely assert her right to fair treatment and such explanations as are within the rules whilst thinking about Plan B.

I don't think they'll give the NEA back before EAR is complete - the centre is required to securely store it until then.

She should have a copy of it though.

I taught coursework for 25 years. Our grades were changed twice in that time. Even though each cohort was pretty similar🙄

Its not always the school, sometimes you hit a tough moderator.

Which service could I go through to ask about paper 2’s mark and whether it was calculated correctly?

The exams officer will need to contact the board. As a rule they do not deal with individuals

You'd hope...

well yes!

I used to teach and moderate AQA and other boards A level media studies...that is a big change to the grades..you can get the marking criteria so could check that...i no longer teach but it was possible to remark just one students work and not affecting whole class....contact board for more info.

Not for coursework!!!

I'm sure this had already been said. More than once.

@FancyBird

I am not going to go over the whole cohort moderation but will add that they would also need to get permission off all of the pupils/students as well its a massive ball ache.

A few other things to consider that could have gone wrong/on.

The teacher was leaving and could just have said "fuck it", put general notes in and hoped for the best. Possible. Internal moderation and all that

It was marked by a substitute that didn't know what was going on and did their best. more likely, even with internal moderation as those internal moderating may not understand the mark scheme either.

The teacher marked the work and the school was forcing them to increase the marks at moderation. The teacher has left. So, could be.

It was marked by the new teacher, internal hire, didn't like the old teacher and done for malice. Unlikely.but possible

I have seen all of these especially where coursework is the main source of mark,

Also it is possible that the school (SLT) knows that its messed up and is trying to hide it.

The school will have a moderators report

It is also possible that if there is an exam that the teacher or sub could have taught the the wrong areas, but that would only mean that your DC's paper would need remarking.

@FancyBird

And has been posted it could be a change in boundaries.

Do they not change every year?

Yes, but this year could be a bigger change.
In the subject I taught, the change was generally 3 - 7 marks, one year it was 10 which would mean that the previous years marks would have been a grade lower.

I have seen moderators downgrade marks by up to 12 which could be two grades or more depending on where the pupils marks sat.

Have you seen it gone down by 32 marks?

If the teacher had fundamentally misunderstood the criteria and the candidate had fundamentally misunderstood the task, it's possible.

I haven't, but when one of the new mark schemes came out for DT it took all 5 members of the department to mark one piece of coursework with wildly varying results and a meeting with the exam board representative to sort out who was right/wrong and what the exam board was looking for.

So its possible. especially if the sub marked the work.

Have you read/seen her coursework yourself OP? Have you read the marking criteria? Were there any exemplars? Did you think it was amazing and deserved an A star? I'm assuming there must be quite a difference in A star work and D grade work and just wondered what you had thoughts/insight into whatever she'd done?

The problem is that pupils can produce amazing pieces of coursework that don't meet the marking criteria.

I vividly recall moderating some work years ago in which the teacher had written things like "Hamlet is a lovely boy and deserves a mark of 15/15".

I'm sure he was a delight but that's not how coursework marks are awarded.