Language controlled assessments - need advice

[adelicatequestion]

I have recently discovered my DS did 2 speaking assessments, on one he got round about a C and the other he crumbled and got an F.

The school sent off the F for moderation (which they say they did the right thing) instead of the C.

Does anyone understand and can explain why they would do this. It resulted in him getting a D instead of a B?

Thanks

Not sure, Ds did several and think the "best" was submitted. Is it possible the C ish was a mock, not under formal exam conditions. The overall grade depends on the ums for each paper.

No, they were both under exam conditions.

When I spoke to his teacher, he said they had sent off the F one because they wanted to send a spread of grades for the intake, some highest some lowest.

It is Edexcel.

Did they "want" to send or "have" to send? I know my goddaughter mentioned a piece of her work being sent for moderation because it had to be due to her being the highest score in her cohort. I didn't ask more.

It doesn't quite work like that. Students have to do at least 2 controlled assessments which are marked by the teacher. One is recorded and the other is unrecorded (although most schools record both for moderation purposes). The marks are submitted to the exam board who then ask for a sample of the recorded assessments to check marking. They have to tell the exam board which mark is recorded and which is unrecorded when they submit the marks. The board (for obvious reasons) can only ask for the recorded sample.
What I don't really understand is why your son wasn't given the opportunity to take a third assessment to try to improve (they can't retake one but there's no reason at all why they can't do more than the required 2). I would ask the HoD why he wasn't given the opportunity to improve his mark before they were submitted. He must have really gone to pieces as an F is 11/30 or less!

I'm not sure but get the impression they only submitted one score because he got 11 for his second one and the score on his results slip was equivalent to 22. It looks like they took the submitted grade out of 30 and doubled it.

The board will have called up certain ones to be moderated.
As a pp said, I'd be more concerned that the teacher hadn't acted to get him to improve on that grade well in advance of sending the marks off.

" It looks like they took the submitted grade out of 30 and doubled"
They don't do that. Are you looking at the marks or the UMS which is a scaled mark. Both count for the GCSE and they verify the marks by using a sample. If that is within tolerance then all the marks (recorded and unrecorded) stand. If not within tolerance they use a sliding scale to adjust all the marks. These marks are then converted to a UMS score which is a lower number than the marks given out of 60 (2 marks out of 30 for each piece).

He got 29 ums which equates to 22 marks. Apparently his first assessment he got 16 and the second he got 11.

Depending on what his target and predicted grades were, I eoukf go back to the HoD and ask why such low marks were submitted and why he did not have an opportunity to take another CA to improve on his mark. Was there a disparity between the writing and speaking marks? In my experience, they are generally within a few marks of each other with no more than a grade's difference maximum.

So if I take those marks and assume for the moment that edexcel take both marks that would be 27/60 marks. That works out at an extra 18 ums which takes his grade up.

It would seem that his mark has been lowered by the board compared to the school's marking. It can happen if they do not agree with the school's marking and you can't assume that the exam board have given the same marks as the school.
You do need to have a conversation with the school but they will not be able to change his grade but will advise you whether to ask for a remark but there is no guarantee that his grade will change.

They will have been asked to send one speaking assessment from each of a specified list of candidates - including yr DS.

It wouldn't make any difference which one they sent - both marks will count. In fact if they think the C was a bit dodgy, maybe only just a C, then they did well to send it as if their marking was accepted by the exam board the C will stand.

Does that make sense? That's how it works for AQA anyway and I would think edexcel was the same.

However your later posts make me question that.

I agree, I might query why he wasn't given the chance to do another CA.

Don't see how if 2 of his 4 CAs were a C and an F he was going to get a B tho OP. Did he do higher or foundation exam? If he did foundation, IME CAs need to be at B/A level to achieve a B grade overall.

sorry, I meant they did well not to send the dodgy (?) C grade CA.

Over the four papers he got A F B D. He did this in yr10 so wants to do it again next year. It's not the end of the world and I'm sure he will do better next year.

Thank you so much for the explanations. It makes more sense now.

Do you mean he did GCSE in a year and has just finished year 10?? Or has done 4 controlled assessments in yr 10 and will do exams in year 11?

If he got ABDF in his CA (quite a range) his overall grade would very much depend on how he did in reading and listening papers too.

Those grades were for the four papers of the GCSE. His 2 controlled assessments that make up the F for the speaking part were a C and an F (by the school before moderation).

Oh well that's odd. I don't see how a C and an F can make an F. Maybe you do need to query that.