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

Yes, completely agree - I was at an academically selective school, frequently in the top five in league tables. Everything, other than core science modules, was taken in year 11.

Admittedly this was a little while ago, but early entry just wasn't a thing. Our GCSE subject choices could be altered up to the Christmas of year ten if we were unhappy - impossible if you're expected to take exams in year ten or even nine!

Actually, we did take subjects after a shorter amount of time - MFLs were picked up as you moved up the school, so I did one MFL that I'd studied for five years, and one that I'd only done for three (started in year 9). However, I don't think I'd have done nearly as well with it if I'd taken the GCSE in year nine, even though that's still three years of study!

OP disregarding the teacher and the early entry, I think you should speak to the HoD.

Explain you're disappointed and you can't understand why students predicted A/A* didn't have a low mark in the CA flagged - it should have been obvious that they either worked below their capability, or their predicted grade was wrong.

What is odd though is that the ethos of the school WAS not to take GCSEs early. As a matter of fact, we had a parents evening to discuss GCSEs specifically towards the end of Y9 and the Head again repeated that pupils wouldn't take any GCSEs early which I fully agreed with. They then started Year 10, no communication whatsoever about taking Eng Lit this year, and first time I heard about was from DD when she mentioned having taken the CA at the start of Nov. It is not until Feb and parent's evening when I asked the teacher that she indeed confirmed they were doing the exam this year. They had been nothing on their website (I checked) and no letter to parents (I asked other parents).

For the first time I started to question the organisation of the school, but then I spoke with parents whose children attend other local school (one that recently had a 1 Ofsted) and they said their experience was the same, so I relaxed and told myself it was all normal.

but, even if your information about grades is correct, and I see no reason your DD would know

Here you go, doubting again what I write! I won't bother justifying why she knows, you'll come back with more reason why I am making it up!

it was surely the HoEs job to monitor the NQTs class
And that's what I will be querying, was it indeed monitored, if so, how do they explained this unexpected outcome. I won't go talking to them to accuse but to understand.

I am not defending the NQT per se, I am simply pointing out that she had neither the power, not the authority to have much influence over your DDs grade
That's one thing I've now learnt from this thread but I still would like to know how the internal process took place and why so many pupils who were expected to do well didn't. I don't know all the results of course, but out of 8 of DD's friends in her class, 7 got one or two better grades at the exams than the CA. Why?

Thanks Polka, I will do indeed. I have DS coming up to GCSE in two years time and I definitely want to have a better understanding of the school approach to GCSEs by then, especially since it will all have changed again by the time he takes it!

You've been told how moderation takes place.
It is not normal practice to sit GCSEs early.
It does sound as if communication is dreadful at the school.

Well it could very well be the difference between November and May as to why the students all seemed to do better in the exam than the CA.

What I don't understand is why they didn't do a second CA to try to improve grades (they would have to do a different question).

But, yes, absolutely, the fault for your DD not achieving her target grade lies almost certainly with school policy of early entry, rather than her particular teacher (a policy out of sync with government policy and that of all decent schools).

Sorry, I've rather lost track of this.

Am I right in thinking that the OP's daughter did a CA for English Literature in in the November of Y10, ie when most of the cohort would have been 14, taking the exam at the end of Y10, when they would at most have been 15? And with no opportunity to redo the CA? But nonetheless, a substantial proportion of the class were predicted A*? When did KS4 teaching start, Y9 or Y10?

Someone should phone Ofsted up, because this is pretty much the definition of early entry poor practice. The FFT data is all predicated on taking the exam at the end of year 11, so predictions made on that basis will overstate results predicted at the year of year 10. Unlike some other subjects, English Lit benefits from overall maturity of the candidates, so taking it early is a more serious undertaking than, say, maths.

Oh, and OP, another thought for you: one possibility is that the NQT followed the rules for the CA, while other staff were more, er, flexible. The school sounds like a shambles, by the way, and I think if you have another child there the least of your problems is your daughter dropping a grade or two on one GCSE.

one possibility is that the NQT followed the rules for the CA, while other staff were more, er, flexible.

This thought crossed my mind too, tbh.

I do feel a bit sorry for this NQT. They might well be crap, but also it is so, so common for GCSE classes to tear an NQT to shreds. My Y10 in my NQT year hated me, and I hated them. I had parents in accusing me of 'picking on' their child, concerns about whether I was up to it. Behavior was designed to wind me up - humming in class, comments about how I was a crap teacher etc. Funnily enough in Y11 we got on really well, they became my favourite class and they got outstanding results, in fact they couldn't have done any better.

Meant to add to my anecdote that I didn't suddenly change from a crap teacher to a good one, but that 1) NQTs get treated badly by their GCSE classes and 2) the extra maturity that Y11 brings isn't only important in increased ability to analyse English texts, but also in learning behaviour. Y10 often aren't emotionally ready to take important exams.

My year 10 this year certainly wouldn't have been ready to sit Literature! By the end of the next academic year they will (mostly) do really well.

Swing

From what you have posted, the NQT isn't the problem, the systems and department within the school are at fault.

It certainly seems that way.

Another thing is that if they knew students CAs had gone badly as early as Novemeber, why did they steam ahead with the early GCSE entry?

Sorry for not getting back sooner, went on hols and then been dealing with the communication with the school.

Am I right in thinking that the OP's daughter did a CA for English Literature in in the November of Y10, ie when most of the cohort would have been 14, taking the exam at the end of Y10, when they would at most have been 15? And with no opportunity to redo the CA? But nonetheless, a substantial proportion of the class were predicted A? When did KS4 teaching start, Y9 or Y10?*

That is absolutely correct. I think it was even end of October rather than November. DD was still 14. A good proportion were expected As (rather than A*) but very few got it. Not sure when KS4 started, year 10 I think? DD said they only had 2 weeks to work on the book before they did the CA so only a few hours of preparation. It is interesting that this would be considered poor practice indeed (it makes sense to me as a parent, but don't know from a teacher's perspective).

1) NQTs get treated badly by their GCSE classes and 2) the extra maturity that Y11 brings isn't only important in increased ability to analyse English texts, but also in learning behaviour. Y10 often aren't emotionally ready to take important exams.
Maybe, but so many things I get to know just doesn't sound right. As said, she has DEFINITELY asked DD to finish one of the Eng Lang CA at home during the holiday. She did and handed in back on her first day back. She is now telling me that some pupils still didn't do it during the hols, so the teacher has told them they could do it next week...she has also confirmed that she had already graded the first lot of papers that were handed in on time, ie. before the holiday. The mean the latter pupils would have had 2 more months to finish the work, is this really acceptable practice? What I don't know if whether anyone else within the department is aware of this?

Anyway, I said I would come back to update. I contacted both the HofE and the Exams Officer and both have been very responsive with advice which I am grateful for. They have offered her the chance to redo the full GCSE again this year, but after discussing it, we've decided that this was just too much as DD is already doing two extra GCSEs (so 12 in total) and needed to concentrate on these. We have debated whether to go for remarking and decided that for the sake of 3 points, we had nothing to lose going for it as she would have to be marked down by 17 points to go down to a C, which would be exceptional. We accept that the chances of her getting these extra 3 points are low.

We've moved on and accepted that she will end up with a B and that it is not the end of the world. Still I have asked to meet with the Head as I am still not fully satisfied that there are no flaws with the process, my main concern being that the same issue could arise again this year with Eng Lang. Although very responsive, I did feel a sense of defensiveness from the HoE when I said I would welcome the opportunity to understand the process better. We are meeting tomorrow though, so will see. He sounds very approachable and reasonable, so hopefully I will come out feeling more reassured.

One last question for the experts of this forum: I understand that only a handful of papers would have gone to external examination to assess fairness of grading, however, would the normal internal process be that all papers are reviewed by another teacher within the school, or only a selection of them (albeit a higher ratio)? Would it be reasonable of me to ask the HoE whether he can confirm that another teacher read DD's work and agreed with the marking, and even ask if I could see the paper and markings myself?

I am not clear what I am entitled to request on behalf of my DD and what is not for me to see, or would be considered as bad attitude to ask. Trying to compare with health entitlement as a patient, ie. we can request to see any correspondence related to our health. I don't want to come across as intrusive but at the same time, I just want to see that they have done everything accurately and surely if this is the case, they should have no issue to share that information?

Just to answer your question allcontrolled assessments are internally moderated (i.e. read and the marking checked) by a senior member of staff usually Head of Department.
Unless it's a very small school or college (i.e. less than 10 pupils entered for the exam - in this case all assessments will be sent to the exam board) only a sample of moderated work is sent to the exam board for external moderation. The exam boards tell the school which scripts to send based on the mark sheets sent to them so that the full range of marks is covered. Sometimes a second sample may be requested if there are significant differences between the internal and external moderated marks. The moderator does send a report back to the centre, but this is general comments about the marking process not about individual candidates.
I don't think that schools can request remoderation for individual candidates but they can only request this for the whole centre.

Thanks catslife, that's very helpful, so this is something I can ask and check, that indeed another teacher checked her work and marking. Can I ask whether these are the official rules of the Examination Board or just good practice? Can any other teacher moderate the markings or does it have to be the Head?

Another question: Does the moderator report relate to the school as a whole (ie. marking by all the teachers for that course for that year) or for individual classes?

Would I be out of order to ask to see the report in addition to asking who moderated DD's work internally (not saying I would ask this, just want to know how it would be received if I did).

Indeed, I now know that schools can't request remoderation for individual candidates and even if I discovered some very bad practice, I wouldn't even consider going down that route. Sometimes you have to move on but if errors have been made, it is valuable to learn from them so they are not repeated.

Yes this is the official rules of the exam board and scripts have to be internally moderated before marks are sent. (If supporting paperwork not done correctly and school doesn't respond by deadline - the mark awarded may be zero).
Internal moderation has to be done by a senior teacher (not necessarily HOD)) usually they need to have taught that subject for at least 3 years and done a course with the exam board. So if the HOD teaches a GCSE class their papers will be checked by someone else.
The moderators report would be for the school as a whole - they don't know which candidates have had different teachers!

The other thing that I need to add though is that any grade given by teachers for controlled assessments is only provisional as the grade boundaries aren't finalised until the end of the marking period. So it could be that the grade boundaries for the CA are higher this year (i.e. the mark needed for B or A was higher than it was last year) rather than an error by the teacher.

Thank you very much for this information which will help with my discussion for tomorrow.

I can confirm that the teacher did say the grade she shared during the year was provisional and said it would be a high C or a low B, but it turned out to be a in the middle C! Totally understand the issue of grade boundaries.

I think at this stage, all I need reassurance is that her paper was internally moderated by the right person internally. I wouldn't challenge the assessment of two teachers, especially one with experience. Arg, I'm sorry, another question coming to mind. Would the internal moderation consist of just a tick, ie. agrees with original grade, or are they expected to comment too?

And so sorry to be a pain, but I am guessing you are a teacher/examiner. How would you feel about a parent like me coming to you with these questions/requests? Even if with a complete polite attitude :)

The Joint Council For Qualifications have instructions for conducting controlled assessments (and appeals) - linkwww.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/controlled-assessments

www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/controlled-assessments

Looking at the raw marks for the English lit CA from last summer to this summer I think the school have moderated correctly. A mark of 26 was a mid C this summer. Last year and the year before the same mark would have been a B. It looks as if the teacher assumed the grade boundaries would be very similar, and they weren't quite as close as she anticipated.

I will pm you. The format of the internal moderation would depend on the exam board. They all have slightly different layouts and it is likely to be computerised.
I would be willing to answer a parents questions if I was able to do so without giving info about other students iyswim.

Looking at the raw marks for the English lit CA from last summer to this summer I think the school have moderated correctly. A mark of 26 was a mid C this summer. Last year and the year before the same mark would have been a B. It looks as if the teacher assumed the grade boundaries would be very similar, and they weren't quite as close as she anticipated.*

Something else that makes no sense to me! If grades are going to change from one year to another, then shouldn't admission criteria be based on the raw scores rather than the actual grade. Some medical schools actually associate points to GCSEs results, ie, an A* is 8 points, an A is 6 etc... So you can end up with a pupil who got an A, and the other a B, resulting in a difference of two points for consideration of admission, when ultimately, they might have been only 1 point away out of 160 for that GCSE!

I suppose it really make no sense to me as I was educated in France where your grade is the raw number you got, end of!

Thank you Clavinova and catslife.

I would be willing to answer a parents questions if I was able to do so without giving info about other students iyswim.
Thank you, I would definitely never asked about another pupil information. I would just rather avoid coming across as a difficult parent if I were to ask who was the other internal teacher who moderated her paper.

If questions happen to be a little harder one year, then using raw marks would mean that students unfortunate enough to take the slightly harder exam would get lower grades if raw marks were used.

Adjusting the raw mark to take into account the relative difficulties of the particular exam smoothed out such difficulties, and ensures that an A one year is of the same standard as an A the following year.

Oh, I assumed it was adjusted depending on how well all UK pupils did that year rather than the difficulty of the questions. That makes more sense.

Not sure how that applies to CA though as I didn't think the work was based on questions?