Thread 8 Carry on Corona Cohort: GAV give us the CAG?

[OrangeCinnamon1]

Welcome all to the 8th Thread for this year's GCSE cohort the Corona Cohort!

Some of us have been here since I started first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. It is hoped this will continue. Going forward we intend to stay in secondary so any new threads should have 'GCSE Summer 2020 Thread # : Carry on Corona Cohort' in title just to make it easier to find.

From now on our DS/DD may go down various paths so we decided not to be exclusionary and stay right here in Secondary until HQ chuck us
At this precise moment in time we are awaiting GCSE results that seem to have been produced by an algorithm that also takes very little account of Teacher Centre Assessed Grades. There is an appeal process but it was changed yesterday to include mock results and coursework, then taken down again for review.
Trying to protect our young people's mental health.during this shit show , which the government claims is their priority...when they talk about wanting students back in schools/college in September...

first ever thread

previous thread

@Monkey2001 yes. I know that some schools will have taken a punt and gone high to try to game the system, and that's not fair on schools that didn't. But fairness isn't a thing in this situation. None of it is fair.

So, year 10 and 12 parents on here are happy for year 11 and 13 to be scapegoats, so that they get “their” grades next summer?

How lovely.

Oh I can see I have missed a chunk of posts.
Parents of year 11s all need support at the moment as I think it is only fair to ask those from other years not posting moral support to refrain for now . There are a number of other threads to argue the rights and wrongs of what is happening.
We are trying to support our DC through a process that is always very stressful but especially so this year and I think people need to respect that as in the spirit of Mumsnet.

Piccolo probably best not to use your emotional reserves engaging , can I offer you some calorie free 🍫?!

The Government , have really screwed up over this issue.
Even if the government do make a U turn and the students are given the CAG grades there will still be a fallout.
Firstly, some A level students have already lost their places at their chosen universities and the courses are now filled. This means that they have to defer or reapply next year. They will have to take an enforced gap year , which in itself is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things ( gap years are often the making of young people) but they will have little chance of gaining employment, getting internships or even travelling because of the virus. So they will be sat twiddling their thumbs for the whole year.
Secondly, much attention has been on students who have been downgraded, but there have been students who have been upgraded ( their ‘result’ has been higher than their CAG mark) will they be expected to accept their lower CAG mark or will they be able to keep the better grade.?
Thirdly, there is the issue with the IB students who have been downgraded - what happens with this?
Finally, this debacle will mean that in future parents will be reluctant to send their children to an average performing local comprehensive and will cheat and lie their way into the best performing state schools.
This debacle has proved that even if you are a bright , hardworking student in an average comprehensive you are not likely to do as well as an average student in a high achieving school. This debunks the theory that an brilliant student will do well wherever they go.
Exams should have been postponed until the Autumn

Sorry @HipTightOnions and @MrsHamlet if my last line was flippant. I meant that the downsides of using CAGs (which, as I have said many times, seems to be the only viable way out here) are:

Schools which deliberately over-bid are given unfair grades (but I think that will be a small number);

Schools where SLT made teachers match historic results instead of giving them the freedom to submit their actual assessment lose out;

Y12 and IB students are competing with A levels students with almost twice as many top grades as normal;

Universities may not be able to fit in all the students who met their offers as the most selective always over-offer as some students will not get the grades.

Y11 and Y13 feel that their grades are not considered equal - DS2 thinks everyone will say "Yes, good results, but they were inflated".

Anything else?

BUT for me, cohort unfairness is not as bad as individual unfairness.

anyone think we have a good chance of a u turn and CAGs given? Even if they decided to it would be too soon for them to issue them on Thursday so it would have to be on appeal so results day would be marred nevertheless

To clarify I don’t have a child in year 10 or year 12. The point of my post was so that parents of those children might see it’s not in their interests to resist CAGs for current year 11 and 13s because if the year 11s and 13s are left with bad grades they will have to take the exams in with the year 10s and 12s. The year 11 and 13s will probably do better because they are taking fewer exams (only the ones they were unhappy with) and had 2 years of teaching.
I think CAGs should be awarded to the year 11s and year 13s.

Why don’t they just let you have the algorithm grade and the CAG on the same piece of paper and say you can use the higher one. So if as a University I see the following Algorithm/CAG I can assume as follows. 7/7- consistent ok , probably a 7. 6/9- ok, clever pupil, shafted by the algorithm, treat as 8 or 9...6/3- bit of a slacker, lucky upgrade on the algorithm- treat with caution..

Was it Heifer who explained how to get your schools previous results? With a step-by-step guide for idiots?
Well I couldn't get it to work on my phone. I may have to re-try on a laptop, after Thursday. Will I really need that info?

There was another poster who said her school had sent a really nice email with all the data they needed, the target, the predicted, the cags, the mocks.

Do I need to collate all such data?

I can't even now find Ds1's latest school report. Only the one before. I don't know whether to email HoY now, or just wait to see what Thursday brings........

@seashellssand- that’s what I was thinking. If they do a U turn, will year 11s still have their ‘old’ results or the ‘new’ results on Thursday?
What a mess

I agree with you Monkey on the individual unfairness and was so glad to see some local Heads speaking out about it last week.

Starting to think about what Thursday might look like if DS does actually get results needed, I kind of haven’t thought properly about that and probably should. DD will be back so that’s good.

I think they will get CAGs on Thursday. I do not think they should get randomly inflated calculated grades if they were higher than CAGs - if teachers submitted lower CAGs for a subject it is 99.9% certain to be because the teacher knew it was a weaker cohort.

If they give the calculated grades on Thursday there will just be an extra bit of random grade inflation.

@Monkey2001 not at all. The fairest system was moderated CAGs. We thought that's what we were getting. What we are being given is neither fair nor what we were told. Everything about it is a bloody mess.

@FoolsAssassin Thanks. You are right about the collective shift. For my DS it would be fairest for him to get his mock results as his final marks. He worked incredibly hard (to the extent he jeopardised his mental health) and I think the school got new papers from Pearson, and they went to great lengths to ensure the mock exams took place under exam conditions with study leave, invigilators etc. Only one of his teachers seemed to undermark with the intention of scaring the living daylights out of them. My Ds got some good mock results, but his target/predicted marks were not changed upwards in line with them. I would like mocks, but reading this thread and the last 2 has shown me that there are situations where that is not even possible for some pupils. For me, CAG is a compromise I am happy to support (a choice of either would be ideal though). I just can't be doing with the endless if your child gets a fair mark, my child will lose out... Watch out for karma. people.

I am worried sick about Thursday- for health reasons DS has had very poor attendance,missed some of mocks but was working at home on core subjects. I can see his place in the rankings meaning he is screwed by the algorithm. Luckily school have for once been pro-active and announced that access to 6th form will be on basis of CAGs so hopefully he'll be allowed in but goodness knows what A levels they'll let him do!

Apparently last week Ds’ school gave the CAGs & mock results out with the awarded grades. Wonder if they will do that for GCSEs too. Already have the mocks anyway but will be interested in the CAGs

Mocks would do my DS's cohort a serious disservice, they were well before Christmas, lots of students and staff were off sick and there was significant travel disruption due to an unlucky combination of rail strike and roadworks (rural area, huge catchment).

I wonder if Boris is going to try and rescue his reputation by making an announcement like NS did.

They may stick with the algorithm results for Thursday, and announce CAGS for appeals as the Fail is saying. School will just appeal on mass and maybe give the kids both sets of marks so Sixth Forms can see what the appeals will bring and award places according to CAGS.

Still not fair on all the A levels kids who've lost Uni places, and due to the pandemic have no chance of a fun/useful gap year.

@Decorhate that is what I am hoping, too.

I read a comment on here (can’t remember which thread, I’ve read so many!) from an A level parent whose dc received their (harshly moderated) A level grade and CAG - and was at least able to take a crumb of comfort from seeing that their teachers had recognised their ability and achievement, even if the algorithm had screwed them over.

I just want them all - gcse, a level, BTEC, IB, state, private - to be treated as fairly as possible at this stage. @neutralintelligence I also find the ‘your child wins, my child loses out’ approach to be abhorrent. I know various Y10 dc and I want them to get fair treatment too just as much as I want justice for the y11s and 13s.

Yes, I know mocks don't work for everyone. Not even ideal for my DS - exam access arrangements were not in place. Had the kind of mental health breakdown that would have got a special conditions certificate and grade upgrade in the real exam.
At this stage, nothing looks ideal and everything looks flawed. But the worst outcome is 2 million downgraded results allocated almost randomly to individual pupils. I am not going to be satisfied with an long drawn-out arduous admin-heavy appeals process that does not remedy unfair and inaccurate grades before the start of term.

It will be really rubbish if they fudge the issue with CAGs but only through an appeals process so that you have to apply through your school, your school has to take some kind of risk, you have to produce evidence, any situation of the lowest possible grade applying etc. And time is crucial here. These results affect what happens just one week later for these pupil's next courses, next destinations etc.

It’s sad that some parents of non-exam years are behaving like this. I hope that, if the boot were on the other foot, I would be sympathetic and supportive rather than selfish. My younger DD has GCSEs in a couple of years: all this may well impact on her, but at least she is likely to have a chance to prove herself in an exam. Our current Y11 and Y13 DC did not have that luxury.

I’ve just sent another email to my MP.

Year 10 and year 12 parents shouldn’t have a them and us attitude. We should all be on the same side this could’ve affected any of us and we have just drawn the short straw that it is us. DS is acting really maturely about the whole situation it is me who is having the meltdown. I think he is just resigned that it is all out of their hands. How can that be fair and how can this waste of a space government and Gav the slippery fish put this on our 16 year olds who were promised they wouldn’t be disadvantaged.

Thanks, Fools. Chocolate always gratefully received. 😘

I’ve just been helping DD to sort out her desk area, and found her mock headings, with projected grades. All really good, except for bloody history - she was given a 6 for the mock and 6 for projected, when she got an 8 for the mock, using 2019 grade boundaries.
Of course, now I’m getting angrier and angrier that her stupid teacher might have put the 6 on her CAG.
I was furious at the time and told him so, but at least then I didn’t think DD needed to take any notice of his opinion, because she’d prove him wrong in the exam.