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."

I'm not sure about the state/private split, but the overall proportion of kids getting three A's (i read 6%) was pathetic, totally invalidating A levels as a measure of suitability for the very top courses and universities. If those grades were to be sustained then Oxbridge, maybe some e.g. medical schools too, would need to ditch A levels and rely entirely (not partly) on something else, now that would* play into the hands of the private schools, because whatever this "something else" was, it obviously wouldn't be a priority for the state schools to anything like the same extent as private.

overall I do believe that: (a) of all the damage wrought by Covid on our economy and society, screwing up a couple of years' worth of exam results is by no means the greatest; and (b) exams remain by a distance the least bad method of assessment for the 18+.

@jeanne16 it would seem that there were some schools benefiting disproportionately from the situation within both sectors. Purely anecdotal but I have heard of a local school (state comp) that was handing out GCSE level 9s like sweeties last year and another (not very selective indie) who took a holistic view of the process , using unproctored tests sat at home during lockdown as the main basis of their TAG assessments. Meanwhile, many other schools in both sectors were trying their best to be as rigorous and fair as possible. And let's not forget the ridiculous pressure on the poor teachers to make some sense of the situation. It is not a simple picture. @puffyisgood, I agree about exams being the least bad method of assessment for the 18+. Of course, there is always the risk of an off day and that's a shame but at least in normal times public exams offer an objective and transparent assessment process. And they prepare DC for the inevitable pressure of University exams. Regarding your comment about top courses and Universities, it is interesting that this year Oxford Medicine have allegedly discounted 2020 GCSEs in their interview selection process due to their unreliability and this has increased the weighting of the BMAT (clinical entrance exam) results.

@sunshineclouds24

Sorry I can't post from my phone but if you look on the hmc.org.uk website under press release section in their statement you can see their stats that show the % increase at A* A level was greater in state sector than the private sector. The letters printed in the Sunday Times last Sunday are worth reading too, the original article wasn't balanced.

No that's not right. The independent schools had the biggest inflation in grades, from the figures published last August.

Grade inflation was not done only by private schools. State schools did similar, hence the massive increase in grades overall

I think you're right.

Which is why this year's A level students are so royally screwed over.

Those with higher grades from the previous year, plus no real hope by taking a gap year as then they compete with those with better grades in subsequent years (as they will have had less covid disruption in the two years of sixth form)

@opoponax - yes, it's hugely relevant that almost all university assessment is by timed final exam.

It's why i've always been against the interviewing that Oxbridge does. It to me harks back to a time when a PhD style 'viva'/oral test might have been a key part of assessment at undergraduate level. Performance at interview can't possibly rival performance at [public, school] written exam as a predictor of future performance at university level written exam.

@puffyisgood I agree but (although slightly tangential to the thread) I would caveat it with the point that I do think interviewing for med school places is important . Medicine is a vocational degree and 18 year olds are effectively being recruited into their future profession. The interview component is important for medics as it does not focus on academic suitability (already proved by this stage) but rather gauges whether candidates have the right personality characteristics to make a good doctor. This is probably more important than just being academic enough to cope with a Medicine degree.

It will be interesting to see how the results compare over the next few years at these schools and generally.

But we know how they will compare - they will go down. It has already been announced that the grade distractions are to move back to 2019 over the next two years.

The issue for many independent schools revolved around the evidence that pupils were able to give for the final grades - TAG or CAG. Most schools realised they had to have robust data to base grades upon. So most schools ran "high control" (JCQ standard) assessments - essentially mock exam weeks with more jeopardy! Given there were no new exam questions available for two years, it didn't take much for pupils to make sure they were bets prepared for their assessments. Additionally, no school could ignore results from these exams as they would readily be appealed against by pupils/students. The result was that the pupils produced the evidence and the schools had to give the grades. To pin the blame on any cynical manipulation by schools, fails to understand the process that went on to generate the TAGs/CAGs. It also resulted in a great deal of stress for pupils, and rigour in the process from staff.

@jeanne16

Grade inflation was not done only by private schools. State schools did similar, hence the massive increase in grades overall.

A friend’s DD got all 4s and 5s in her GCSEs but was awarded 3 A grades in her A levels last year. She was at a good London State school. She had previously been expecting C and D grades.

@jeanne16

Grade inflation produced by independent schools were much much higher than state schools.

The original Sunday Times article here has a handy table - www.thetimes.co.uk/article/private-schools-gamed-covid-rules-to-give-their-pupils-more-top-a-levels-6z0z6w9r5

The schools are sorted by grade inflation observed between 2019 and 2022 A level results (measured as a percentage of A* grades)

The largest inflaters are predominantly independent schools, starting with North London Collegiate School (NLCS) with 56.4% increase in percentage of A* grades

The first state school making an appearence in that list of shame is Tiffin School in position 19 (inflation 35.1%)

In fact among the top 50 inflaters, there are only two state schools.

It's quite shameful what the independent schools did last year, and they suffer absolutely no consequence for it. Quite the opposite, it's probably good for business.

www.hmc.org.uk/blog/hmc-statement-following-record-breaking-assessment-results-and-sunday-times-coverage/

The Sunday Times continuing their anti-independent schools campaign: what a surprise.

@CJFJ1

The Sunday Times continuing their anti-independent schools campaign: what a surprise.

Or maybe they're just reporting the story?

I'd imagine a large part of the Times readership has privately educated children.

Or is your argument that this should be hushed up because it's what parents pay for?

Also the attached from the paper on Sunday.

@Clymene

No - that's not my argument, but the HMC link I've posted above suggests that they have been disingenuous with their reporting to at least some extent.

I can't speak for the independent schools mentioned in the article, but I teach in a high-ranking independent school and the measures put in place by Senior Leadership to ensure our CAGs / TAGs over the last two years were in line with previous, pre-Covid examination results - were nothing short of painstakingly meticulous.

Even if our Senior Leadership Team had wanted to "inflate" the grades, the rigmarole that the examination boards have required each centre to go through over the last two years, to ensure that results were in line with pre-Covid years, have meant that it would have been near impossible.

[quote CJFJ1]@Clymene

No - that's not my argument, but the HMC link I've posted above suggests that they have been disingenuous with their reporting to at least some extent.

I can't speak for the independent schools mentioned in the article, but I teach in a high-ranking independent school and the measures put in place by Senior Leadership to ensure our CAGs / TAGs over the last two years were in line with previous, pre-Covid examination results - were nothing short of painstakingly meticulous.

Even if our Senior Leadership Team had wanted to "inflate" the grades, the rigmarole that the examination boards have required each centre to go through over the last two years, to ensure that results were in line with pre-Covid years, have meant that it would have been near impossible.[/quote]
Their argument is not that all private schools have inflated results but that some of them have.

They have named specific very prestigious schools which have seen vastly inflated grades.

Are you saying that's untrue?

The defence seems to be 'well we didn't all do it so it's unfair to tar us all with the same brush.'

Not much of a defence really.

From last August

www.tes.com/magazine/news/secondary/levels-2021-rise-3x-more-private-schools

@FoggySpecs is absolutely right that at least some of the jump in grades in private schools was a result of the teaching in these schools being a lot less disrupted by Covid: they got sorted online quickly, had students who all had access to good IT and Wi-Fi, and were generally well motivated to keep working remotely.

The exam boards significantly lowered grade boundaries to recognise the disruption most pupils had due to Covid. But for those schools who continued to teach well, that meant a lot more pupils getting the higher grades than they would normally.

My DD has just written mocks. In a number of subjects she is one grade higher using the 2020 grade boundaries than those used in 2019.

NLCS was disgraceful with their grade inflation. Yes, it happened at many schools, but what they did was so bad that it's now difficult to take them seriously as an academic organisation of excellence.

@pkim123

NLCS was disgraceful with their grade inflation. Yes, it happened at many schools, but what they did was so bad that it's now difficult to take them seriously as an academic organisation of excellence.

NLCS had the biggest increase in percentage point terms, but in proportionate terms some others were higher, e.g. laughably an E Midlands private school called Derby High School saw an A* increase from 6.5% in 2019 to 53.9% (which in 2019 would have made them the best school in the country) in 2021 .

all the biggest risers in the state sector were grammars, ie the places with the places who make the biggest song and dance about their grades.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10482061/amp/Private-schools-gamed-Covid-double-grades-investigation-finds.html

@puffyisgood I agree. Although, NLCS is supposedly a top school in the nation. After this, I would be embarrassed to be associated with the place.

How can these schools do this?! North London Collegiate School, shame on you!

[quote pkim123]@puffyisgood I agree. Although, NLCS is supposedly a top school in the nation. After this, I would be embarrassed to be associated with the place.[/quote]
well - they are a charitable foundation private business who use grades to advertise, so it's not entirely understandable that they'd push as hard as they could. what I don't quite understand is why nobody stopped them doing it.

anyway, a not-quite tripling of the number of A's is arguably more plausible than Derby's near ninefold increase. though I do tend to think that an 80-something rather than 90-something % of A's might have been a little more plausible.

• not entirely incomprehensible.