Control assessment remark

[swingofthings]

I'm sorry for asking for advice that has probably already been shared a number of times, but couldn't find anything.

Is it possible to ask for a control assessment to be remarked and if so, how would I go about it?

Story is that DD is a high achiever pupil in all subjects, finished year 9 with a 7a level in English Literature, expected an A at GCSEs since Year 7. Year 10, she got a newly graduated teacher who had no experience of teaching GCSEs. Very quickly a number of issues with her teaching came to light (by a number of parents). I gave her the benefit of the doubt. However, we only found out in February that DD got a B/C grade at the control assessment she took in November. This came as a real surprise especially as DD thought she had done well and she normally is a good judge of her expected results. We have now received her results and not surprisingly, she got two As at the exams in June, but got a final C at the final grade for her control assessment giving her a final total grade of B. It is not the end of the world, but it has surprised everyone has she was always expected an easy A, and a slight concern as she is determined to go to Medical School, and unfortunately, the ridiculous competitive entry access mean that a number of the schools do look at GCSEs grades.

I don't know much about the whole system, but I was told yesterday that for control assessment grades it is the decision of the teacher, with only a few top grade papers being reviewed by the Board Administration. Is this indeed the case for all subjects? If so, in light of all the complaints with this teacher, I am seriously considering a remark.

DD got a score of 157 (AQA). I understand that 160 was an A, but I don't know what was the cut off mark for an A.

In light of the above circumstances, would you advise going through the remarking route?
Thanks

You cannot have controlled assessments remarked. Not at all, under any circumstances.
The exam board will pull a few for moderating and either decide school has marked ok, and all marks stand, or that they have over marked in which case the exam board will adjust the marks of all candidates downwards.
If the school has undermarked then no action can or will be taken, though they would be told they were too harse.

Harsh!

That's unbelievable! What if a teacher has it for a pupil (not saying this is the case here) and decides to mark them down, are you saying there is nothing that can be done? Surely there is an avenue for a complaint at least?

Otherwise, surely this is a complete failure of the system? Why exams can be questioned, but not the mark an totally inexperienced and very poorly rated teacher give? I would think that if anything, is much more likely to be errors on the part of the teacher and an board examiner? Especially when the pupil actually scores higher on exams than the assessment. Makes no sense at all.

Actually, I meant to ask, if anyone experienced knows. Why would that be that controlled assessments can't be remarked?!!

No because the teacher's marking has already been moderated.

If the school has undermarked then no action can or will be taken, though they would be told they were too harse.

As you can read, I am getting quite angry about this :) Why should a child future be penalised because of one incompetent teacher and what good does the school being told they were harsh going to be for the pupil.

What a pathetic system!

I am experienced swing.
The teacher's marking will have been moderated in house, by other more experienced teachers, especially for a NQT.
Even if the teacher did "have it in" for your dd why on earth would they deliberately mark them down? They will be judged on the exam results, and if a student gets As in the exams and Cs in the controlled assessments at the very least the hod will be checking and having discussions with the teacher.
Possibly your dd is not very good at the skills the CA are assessing, usually they differ from those tested in exams to a certain degree.

Also if she is going for medicine, apart from Cambridge then she will be fine with one B, i am assuming the rest are all A*s and As.

Just to confirm, coursework is moderated internally before the marks go off to the board. The board then usually request a range of folders to be sent to them (selection of top, middle and bottom). These are externally moderated. The board will often make changes to the marks of these and will change the marks of the whole school in line with them (they know which group each student was in). Coursework/Controlled Assessment is never remarked.
NQTs get a LOT of support over the marking of such work. It is in the department's interest to do this. If we receive feedback from the board saying the marks have not been acceptable we would have to explain ourselves, and our pay is now linked to meeting targets.
I'm sorry your daughter has underperformed in her CA, the style of assessment doesn't suit everyone.

Just go for a remark of exam paper , your dd is not going to go down to a b with 157 and could gain the three marks needed for an A that way.

Thanks Rosie, at least that process is a bit more reassuring and it is something I can ask the school about. The teacher was the one handing over the results, and DD talked to her about her results and the teacher certainly didn't say anything about discussion with the hod but I can enquire about this.

Possibly your dd is not very good at the skills the CA are assessing, usually they differ from those tested in exams to a certain degree.
Of course, that is a possibility, but she had done a mock controlled assessment in Year 9 and got a high A, and even this year's teacher has praised DD's work through out the year (and her report is only praises and mentions nothing about difficulties with controlled assessments). When I met with her at parents' evening (in Feb, when we found out about the results), she actually told me and DD that she'd done very well. The whole thing is just very odd.

I will at least go and speak with the school exam officer. What really worries me is that she has already started doing her control assessment for English Language for that same teacher so am getting a bit anxious. As I said already, other parents have complained and said they didn't want their kids in her class. Which suddenly reminds me about some things that happened that I thought were not right. Firstly, one part of the control assessment took place when DD was away for a week for an arrange trip with the school (something they very much encourage for very selected pupils), so she was told to do that work at lunch time in half the time that other pupils were given. Worse, she couldn't finish it all due to time, and that teacher told her it was ok to finish it at home. Surely that's not right?

Also if she is going for medicine, apart from Cambridge then she will be fine with one B, i am assuming the rest are all As and As.*

Ha ha, Ok, I need to relax. Yes, she is predicted A* and As in every other subjects and although she was also expected an A grade at start of the year in EL, it is without a doubt her weakest subject, so will turn the page (as she has done herself!).

Just go for a remark of exam paper , your dd is not going to go down to a b with 157 and could gain the three marks needed for an A that way.
Good point, I hadn't thought of that :) Will discuss it with her, I just want fairness rather than the actual grade.

In Feb the Controlled Assessments won't have been externally moderated. It sounds possible that the marks were adjusted downwards, either internally before submission or externally by the exam board. Not that you can actually do anything about that now, unfortunately.

Why would a teacher, who is judged on her results, mark down a pupil for no good reason?

So has she done Eng Lit in yr 10 and is now going into yr 11?

If so, that's a slightly daft decision on the part of the school - not only will the students be likely to have done better in yr 11, but also the exams taken early will no longer count in league tables or in applications to the more competitive universities.

Why would a teacher, who is judged on her results, mark down a pupil for no good reason?
Just to be clear, I am not questioning any malicious doing in this case, I am questioning the competence of the teacher. Her teaching skills have been raised since January by a number of parents, so it isn't just me having little faith in her ability.

There's a process to marking a controlled assesment, the teacher initially marks, they will then be internally moderated by another teacher at school, at DD's school it's head of department, not sure about everywhere else
Thanks for this, this is what I need to pick up with the school to be sure that this process has taken place. The news from DD that the teacher told that she should finish her English Lang assessment at home over the summer and the fact that part of the assessment took place the one week that a number of pupils were not in class does make me seriously question the internal process of moderation.

English CA's vary greatly and it's perfectly possible your DD is better at some aspects than others, which is to be expected in such a wide subject.
Totally appreciate this, but ironically, DD felt that this is the aspect she she was the strongest at, and considering she always got top marks, it just came as a total surprise. If she had an experienced respected teacher, I certainly wouldn't feel so uneasy about the outcome. If I can be reassured that her assessment was internally assessed properly, then I would feel more ready to move on. Even if there is no doubt that DD got the grade she deserved, I would have at least expected the teacher to approach DD/me to discuss why she had such an unexpected grade and trying to understand the reason why.That didn't happen, not even at parent's evening.

*So has she done Eng Lit in yr 10 and is now going into yr 11?

If so, that's a slightly daft decision on the part of the school - not only will the students be likely to have done better in yr 11, but also the exams taken early will no longer count in league tables or in applications to the more competitive universities.*

All the year 10 pupils in the 5 local comprehensive schools took Eng Lit this year, as have a number of other schools in the country, so I don't thing it was just the school decision (known to be anti taking exams early). Which coming from another country, I have to say I do find it very odd that individual schools could have so much power over the regulation of what is a national award, especially in a culture where so many kids don't have a choice of the school they go to, but that's another matter for debate!

My concern now is that DD has already done her controlled assessment for English Language in June/July even though they won't take the exam until next June. Neither pupils nor parents were of course informed of this in advance let alone that it would take place when a number of those kids were not in class (the school organises a prestigious annual event and a number of pupils are selected after a tough process to attend for the week). Is this normal practice? I had planned on joining other parents and asking DD to be moved to another English class for year 11, but if that teacher has already administered the controlled assessment, I assume it is now too late?

Many questions that I need to take up with the school when DD goes back but thanks for the comments here, it helps me get a better idea of what I can question.

maybe the problem was with the old teacher's teaching and over marking?

Sounds like the teacher utterly messed it up to me. Contact the exam board or at least look at their website.

Sometimes it's good to get these things done early although this seems rather early. Later and they might be more competent. too late and it's too close to the final exams. My two had one teacher doing a practical thing (music) with about 3 hours before the deadline to spare despite the teacher suggesting they did it a year early as they are music scholars with high grades. I blame the teacher for that as he is a last minute merchant which just adds to strees, although they did get A overall and (A in the practical). They should have got A overall had he been better, but not worth worrying about.

maybe the problem was with the old teacher's teaching and over marking?
Yes, maybe, but maybe not. That's the point, i want to get away from maybes! It's about likelihood.

You have a top pupil, finishing year 8 with a 7c level and year 9 with a 7a level, who gets two As at the exams, yet somehow got a C at a controlled assessment run by a newly qualified teacher with no previous experienced of marking GCSE work, whose competency has been questioned by a number of parents.

So although of course maybe her year 7, 8, and 9 teachers got it wrong, maybe her exams marks were wrongly assessed, maybe DD own assessment of what she did was wrong too, but at the same time, maybe something went wrong in the grading of that assessment. That's all I want to investigate to be reassured that against all likelihood, DD indeed somehow did poorly (for her) on that part of the curriculum.

Thanks Janet. I intend on speaking with the exam officer when school starts. He is an experience and professional person who knows DD quite well, so it will be good to get his views on it for a start.

The coursework will not just have been marked by that teacher though. It will have been moderated as has been explained to you.

It's possible your DD's whole class did poorly in the CA (possibly due to the guidance, rather than the marking), but if so, I'd have thought it would have been raised before this point.

Mind you, we always knew in moderated marks in advance, so if anybody was unhappy, there was time to speak to the teacher/HoD about reasons and what to do.

The coursework will not just have been marked by that teacher though. It will have been moderated as has been explained to you

And I would welcome clarity as to how that moderation took place and especially whether as pointed by Polkadot, the whole class came low (which I vaguely recall DD saying was the case months ago) and if so, is it a case that the outcome was 'tough, don't do it again' but with no change.

I think if the teacher had pointed out at parents evening that her results were odd, maybe I would have felt more inclined to discuss it with her, but right away I felt she didn't really know about DD progress, and when I mentioned her intention of going to medical school, she gave me that look that seemed to say 'oh, here comes another one who think their kids is so good they should aim for the top', that I didn't dare asking more questions!

Moderation takes place in two forms. Internally, within a department and externally. After internal moderation the department sends marks to the board. They also need to indicate which teaching group a student is in. The board moderator selects a sample covering the full range of students and teachers. They are marked. If within a range of tolerance the marks are upheld, otherwise adjustments are made which are then applied to all candidates (even those not sent for moderation). For this reason, among others, the internal moderation process is taken VERY seriously. The goal is to have your marks upheld.
Our marks are usually upheld. However, the UMS process is then implemented. This can result in the only raw mark getting the top grade being full marks. I never tell students what grade their coursework is as I just don't know what the grade boundaries are year on year. I tell them what mark I have given them and explain it's subject to change.

I have sympathy. My DS2 in Y10 isn't a high flyer and only took core science this year. He worked hard for his exams and got BBC for Chemistry, Biology, Physics, (averaging at a B) but only an E for his controlled assessment which brought his overall result down to a C. I'm disappointed that the school thought an E was an acceptable controlled assessment mark when these can be retaken before the exams. It seems a very low mark for someone taking the higher papers. Nothing I can do but complain to the school for the future. He doesn't want to retake it, he's just glad one is under his belt.