Exam grade guidance finally released

[noblegiraffe]

www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcses-as-and-a-level-awarding-summer-2020

Looks sensible. A rank order required within grades so that the can moderate up or down as required.

Hamster - uni pals seem to think numbers will be low this year so might be a chance to aim high for your ds

Urgh, dreading this - small English Dept here with 4 Year 11 classes only. Which should be fine except we have one rogue member of staff who overmarks everything which is going to make the whole process a nightmare.

Yes, Noble, I suppose that is a fairer comparison

I am actually quite happy with the scheme. It does seem the fairest in the circumstances. I am particularly pleased that we are forbidden from sharing grades and rankings with students and parents. I have had no lobbying thus far, but I know colleagues have had emails along the lines that "x needs a B".

I am particularly relieved that I do not have to attempt any remote assessments to provide evidence.

On the other hand, I am not sure what reason there is for my Y13 students to continue with remote lessons. We are all but finished the course, so perhaps it does not matter, but I was expecting to look over past papers with them.

At least with y11, they will have an opportunity to boost their grades and take the better one for the CV.

iheart we have that problem multiplied across 11 teachers, some of whom are supply, people now on mat leave, staff who have left/ just joined and 420 students...

It is what it is, I guess!!

why would they use gCSE results for a-levels?

Why not? How can it not be a relevant indicator of ability/aptitude?

Say, someone working at grade 7 in class, homework, mocks, etc., for Maths, gets a grade 9 after buckling down for revision etc. Now working at grade A during lower sixth and mock A levels, needing A* for Uni entry requirement. Surely the jump from 7 to 9 at GCSE is a very good indicator of not only effect of revision, but also ability etc.

Of course, where the course is very different or where a subject wasn't taken at GCSE it's not relevant, but when an A level course in say Maths or Science is basically the same but to a higher level, then the GCSE grade achieved must be relevant.

On the other hand, I am not sure what reason there is for my Y13 students to continue with remote lessons. We are all but finished the course, so perhaps it does not matter, but I was expecting to look over past papers with them.

1. They'll benefit if they need to do a re-sit rather than 6+ months of brain drain. No benefit for anyone to try to cram revision into just a few weeks between the date of the marks being handed out and the resits, especially at a time when I expect teachers wouldn't be available to provide help, support, revision materials as they'll be on holiday or busy with their next cohort.

1. If it's relevant for Uni course, i.e. Maths or science A level for a corresponding Maths or science degree, they surely need to be keeping their brains active and engaged with their chosen degree subject otherwise it's going to be a hell of a shock come October when they will have forgotten loads of what they need to know.

I think the process is probably as good as it could be given the circumstances.

However, for combined science classes with three teachers and students who can often perform at wildly different levels between biology and physics, ranking students within a grade is going to be tricky, I think!

I agree the bit about resits and appeals is still very vague.

I'm not a teacher but a gcse parent. I read some of the parent guidance and feel reassured by it that dd will get fair grades

uni pals seem to think numbers will be low this year so might be a chance to aim high for your ds

One of my clients is a Uni lecturer and they're expecting a massive drop in the Autumn intake this year. They're busy having meetings about whether to reduce entry requirements or just reduce the number of courses/places available. The level of interest from overseas students (usually several hundred Chinese alone) has fallen through the floor. He says virtually no offer holders have "firmed" their offers where usually at this point in time they'd already have a significant number of choices firmed. So yes, people who may have been border line as to whether they'd have got the right grades for the more demanding entry requirements may well take the risk of firming in the hope of more likely getting the top grades (if they've been working at that level), or expecting the Uni to accept lower grades once they're published just to fill their courses.

May I ask a question as the parent of an A level candidate? My DS has not performed consistently well across the A level course and has only just started to work harder. He hoped to achieve above his teacher assessed levels.
DS plans to take the exams in June 2021. I’m a little dismayed however that both grades will stand. Would it be possible to avoid this by withdrawing from the 2020 “exams”? Is there any disadvantage to doing this? Thanks.

both grades will stand.

This means that one will not be overwritten by the other and the student can choose which one to use on CVs etc. Obviously they will choose the better one!

With the ranking I think (as ever) choosing the borderline students will be the most important as they are the ones most likely to change.

With a large cohort, the middle of a grade 5 (for example) will be guaranteed a 5 unless you are waaay out with predictions. Bigger cohorts are also more likely to follow a normal distribution so can be internally moderated before sending. Small cohorts will suffer more from moderation, especially when schools priory performance is taken into account.

Thanks Noblegiraffe. Am I correct in thinking that all grades much be declared when applying for University? DS won’t be applying until he has the grades from 2021 in hand.

Statistically, I do get that herc but we still need to rank them. It's a hell of a job!!

Ranking my own GCSE class (not the English one) is a piece of piss. Only one year's prior results in that subject , though, so not sure how that plays out.

Hmmm... yes nightmare.

What about the small classes? Dd2 is in A level class of 2. Both predicted A. They’re fairly similar work wise from what dd2 says. One better at writing, one at speaking, that sort of thing. To give them A1/A2 how do you even compare to the rest of the country.

Oh yes nightmare! Some decent advice on twitter already. I hope subjects are left to it by SLT and not forced into a process no one needs.

Quote from BBC1 coverage

"Teachers will be predicting what grades they would have got and that's what they will be given."

Later mention of ranking/standardization.

"They'll also be asked to rank students and this is to standardize grades across schools in England to ensure that they are consistent with previous years. Also exam boards will be looking at the previous performances of schools and colleges to ensure they are not wildly overestimating or underestimating those grades which will be awarded to students."

Definitely sounds like we just give them grades, which is what students get unless we are "wild" in our predictions.

We have been using grade boundaries to mark internally that are slightly harsher than last year’s real boundaries from AQA. We do this to build in flex because the grade boundaries are not static and we don’t want to get caught out. I’ve got the actual percentages as it happens in my mark book, but there was no requirement to do this and so school data on our system just has grades. Not sure if this will bite us now as it won’t be possible to go back and change grades in line with last years boundaries - or if as long at the grades fit their data pattern it will come out in the wash.

As long as your grades seem realistic and fit the expected data pattern you will be fine.

Remember every single centre will have different assessments, different classwork, different coursework. I imagine the "evidence" won't need to be provided.

herc what might one expect to happen if a course has only got one prior set of data at a school? My GCSE is in its second year.