Grade inflation and leading independent schools in London and beyond

[YesterdayandToday]

Last week, this was in the news. I am surprised nobody initiated a discussion on this (or maybe, I missed).

NLCS, SPGS and a many of the GDST's highlighted in the Times. What do you guys think?

"Teachers at dozens of private schools at least doubled the proportion of A*s handed out to their A-level pupils last year compared with 2019, when children last sat public exams, a new analysis shows.

In 2019, 16.1 per cent of private school pupils had their A-levels graded A*. In 2021 — when teachers decided what marks to award their pupils — the proportion jumped to 39.5 per cent.

Research by The Sunday Times shows for the first time the extent of the grade inflation in individual schools. At North London Collegiate School, a girls’ school in Edgware whose senior fees are more than £21,000 a year, the proportion of A* grades soared from 33.8 per cent in 2019 to 90.2 per cent last summer. The 56.4 percentage point increase is the highest recorded in the investigation."

"Among the leading private schools that have not published detailed A-level results are Eton College, King’s College School, Wimbledon, Westminster School and the Manchester Grammar School."

"At St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith, west London, which has topped the Parent Power independent school rankings for nine of the past ten years, As rose from 52.1 per cent to 87.5 per cent. Derby High School saw A grades rise from 6.5 per cent to 53.9 per cent, a 47.4 percentage point rise, second only to North London Collegiate."

"At Eltham College in southeast London, A* grades rose from 29.1 per cent to 72.2 per cent, a 43.1 percentage point rise."

How would this not be challenged?

Shocking - the arrogance of it. Or maybe not so shocking. My kids are at an independent school and I teach at a different one. We were very careful not to overly inflate previous years’ grades. Applied the bell curve. These schools should be ashamed of themselves.

There is a thread on this already called A level inflation - consequences and there were several letters printed in the Sunday times last Sunday attacking the article.

Absolutely appalling. Why is this being brushed under the carpet? This needs a full independent investigation and re-marking even if it means grades go down which they inevitably will.

It'll stand out as obvious when they don't have center assessed grades this year.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4473975-ofsted-grade-inflation-the-times

@bendmeoverbackwards

Absolutely appalling. Why is this being brushed under the carpet? This needs a full independent investigation and re-marking even if it means grades go down which they inevitably will.

But the issue is that this year's University places have already been awarded on the basis of last year's A Level results. The 2021 cohort is already halfway through their first year of studies. It's too late for anything to be done. There has been a response to the Sunday Times article from the ISC discrediting it but the response does not address the hikes in the grades of the individual schools cited. By talking about percentage changes by overall type of school, it masks the outliers and that's where the spotlight should be. No doubt there were similar aberrations in specific schools within the state sector. However, the fact remains that there are a number of top independent schools that have still not published their % changes year on year. Which begs the question - why not?

I think this is one of those subjects which will get increasing attention and the private schools in question will eventually need to have answers. A (usually regarded as) less selective school near me - Kew House school - saw its A level results go from 24% A-B in 2019 to 64% A/A in 2021. It obviously isn't as well-known as other schools in the Sunday Times article but I'd be fascinated to know what evidence the school could possibly provide to justify this.

The thing is, it's not the students' fault - once awarded, how can those 9s be taken away?

It's the schools' fault. But how to penalise for unfairly raising this cohort? I can't think of any redress.

Maybe a financial fine? To stop them doing it again?

But in years to come it's not really fair either. That cohort looks exceptional compared to everyone else.

Same happening in unis. Soon everyone will get a first. It will all be meaningless

I think there is a danger of missing the point by just looking at the overall trends though. Overall grade inflation is an issue but if it were a uniform variation, a blanket adjustment could be made when comparing different years' results. In any case, there was always going to be a degree of grade inflation arising purely from the fact that the TAGs would exclude 'off days' that can and do happen to students every year. However, the bigger issue is the variation of grade inflation between schools (of whatever type) WITHIN the same cohort. For example, in my DC's schools they were super strict and over-tested if anything. Rigorous testing to come up with the grades they would have been expected to get in a normal year. No issue for us apart from a bit of a grind to get there. The one going to Uni far exceeded what he needed in any case. However, if you compare this approach with some other schools locally who were far more cavalier, there were kids getting grades they would never have had a chance of achieving in a normal year. Of course there are bound to be arbitrary winners and losers where the playing field is not level and that's where the real unfairness lies. How on earth do you adjust for that? It has cost some DC their University courses whilst others have lucked out. Something as important as this should not be a lottery.

I actually think they probably did this quite legitimately, those schools invested heavily in technology and teaching resources right at the start of the pandemic. Kids had great support from the school and parents from day one.

Teacher assessment had to follow guidelines, grades were awarded based on certain criteria, because most schools lost a lot of learning time, expectations for assessments were adjusted and lowered across all schools. Schools that continued to offer schooling as usual were able to go far beyond providing the minimum expectations which meant their students performed better and lead to grade inflation.

That's true Foggy, I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps there was a genuine uplift due to all the extra time on their hands to study and all the extra tech.

Oh my word. I was just looking at the job spec and blurb for a private school near me and I said to my husband - I decided not to apply when I saw they got 100% A* at Alevel. I would not be able to keep up with that kind of pressure.

Just seen this - seems it’s not their spectacular teaching and pupils after all …

Obviously an effective switch to online learning will play a part (there were great examples and awful examples in all school types) However, do you honestly believe that an effective switch to online learning can push a school from 29.1% A stars to 72.2%!!! (an example from the original post). If you follow that thinking, then virtual schools must be so much better than real life ones.

If ypu look at leavers' destinations in these schools rather than grades they weren't that different to usual.

But the issue is that this year's University places have already been awarded on the basis of last year's A Level results

Which makes it really shit for those taking exams this year, after considerable disruption over the last two years, as they face a very uneven playing field with so many deferrals plus offers to those who already have higher grades.

I dont know how much admissions tutors can do to be fair to this year's cohort

I disagree that it’s too late. Many university courses ask for A grades, sometimes AAA and I bet lots of the mis-awarded grades should be A rather than A. So a student could be downgraded but still retain their university place.

@FoggySpecs how can you make that generalisation without looking at the detail of leavers' destinations of the outliers (across types of school and at both ends of the spectrum)? And it's not just about the destinations last year. Some DC would have come out with much higher grades than anticipated and will only be leveraging them this year.

@chantico exactly.

@bendmeoverbackwards but the intrinsic value of A Levels is to open the door to the next level isn't it. And no one really cares about A Level grades once you have your degree (and I suspect this is even more the case for those awarded in 2020 and 2021). The only way a retrospective adjustment would count is if the grades in hand yet to be leveraged were adjusted but then there would be a big in-year disconnect with the rest of the cohort who are already in situ having leveraged their initial grades.

There was certainly some sharp practice but Ofqual and the exam boards must take some blame here for setting up a spectacularly vague system and not quality assuring adequately.

I have studied the leavers destinations from London day schools informally over several years as I'm very interested in Oxbridge, Russell group and ivy league entrance.

Absolutely @ Phineyj the vagueness that left so much open to interpretation must have been a big factor in the lack of consistency between schools. Even if every single school were acting ethically, there would still have been variation because of that very factor. It was always going to be a very difficult situation to manage but the Government failed spectacularly in bringing clarity to the process. The algorithm of 2020 was an absolute joke.

@FoggySpecs well maybe you need to cast your net a bit wider than London day schools if you are going to take a view on the effectiveness across the board.