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.

[Piggywaspushed]

Mocks would not fully work for me because of NEA and also their results were shit

[Piggywaspushed]

oh, and exam concessions weren't all in place.

[GlamGiraffe]

@TheDrsDocMartens
I am also wondering about smal class sizes. DS has between 7 and 12 in each of his 3 a level classes.

I understand they can rank them in order, the school usually gets very high grades for the particular subjects he is doing but I'm still a bit confused how the ranking of do few allows them to allocate grades. It makes much more sense how its possible in a large cohort. But some schools are totally unrepresentative, if for example they are selective entry they should by nature have higher grades pooled in them. I dont understand how the grades will be distributed. Are the teachers basically giving the grades?

[GlamGiraffe]

@FlowerAndBloom
Our school has asked for all work to be photographed and emailed in page at a time so teachers ca have it, including all art portfolios for a level which are enormous and comprise of about 200 pages in my sons case!

[Callo]

When deciding GCSE grades, how far back will teachers look at a student's performance? Year 7, 10, 11?

[Hercwasonaroll]

@callo personally I'll be looking at y10 and y11. The most recent set of mocks will heavily influence my decisions BUT they will not be the only evidence I use. Gut feeling will account for some!

[larrygrylls]

Looks good to me.

Lots of parents and students claiming that ‘they always pull it out of the bag for the real thing’ but, in general, the cohort I teach ranked pretty much as expected in the mocks (with a couple of exceptions).

They all improve at all schools between mocks and real exams, everyone knows this.

And the grades will be moderated so, at school level, there is a similar distribution to previous years.

Like all systems (including normal GCSEs and A levels) there will be a random element, but I suspect the results judged by teachers who have known students for years will, on average, better represent pupils’ potential than an assessment sat over a few weeks in normal times.

Maybe we will end up with this system all the time as long as we find a way to grade schools fairly, so as to avoid rampant grade inflation.

[TheDrsDocMartens]

@GlamGiraffe dd2 pointed out their 2 person class is also only one teacher so the poor teacher won’t have anyone to contribute either.

[MsJaneAusten]

@GlamGiraffe - yes, we’re telling the exam board what grade we think the pupil would have got, and then ranking them within that grade. It would be perfectly fine for your DS’s teachers to put the whole group on A/A* if they genuinely think that’s the case, but they’ll need to rank them within that grade, so if the school appears to be too generous / harsh (based on the schools previous results) or if too many pupils (nationally) are being awarded that grade they can be moved down - or up.

[MsJaneAusten]

(Oh and asking for photographs of work seems bonkers! My department will base their grades on markbooks, not individual pieces of work)

[AppleKatie]

Photographing work is bonkers.

And penalises those too Unwell to do it or who don’t have internet. It’s not in the spirit of the ofqual guidance at all as far as I can see.

[Hercwasonaroll]

Photographs of work is insanity!

[noblegiraffe]

My department will base their grades on markbooks

One suspects that some people’s markbooks are a bit empty and the teachers need reminding of who the kids are.

[Callo]

Thanks Hercwasonaroll

[AppleKatie]

Those teachers need to get better at fabricating their own evidence then! Not placing be burden on the kids 😂

[larrygrylls]

I wonder if they will be moderating grades by school only or school and subject.

If school only, I can see interdepartmental competition. On the other hand, if they do school and subject, some A level subjects will have tiny cohorts which will very substantially from year to year, so that will be tricky too.

[Piggywaspushed]

School and subject is my reading of it. It is awkward for small subjects and also new subjects , which I guess is where prior attainment comes in, which also often isn't a good measure for those types of subjects.

[Hercwasonaroll]

School and subject is my impression too.

There are so many problems with this solution, however there is no better solution.

[TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross]

With my A Level sets, my "gut" tells me what they're going to get in the end. It's rarely wrong. I don't know that that's going to count as watertight evidence though...

[FrippEnos]

larrygrylls

And the grades will be moderated so, at school level, there is a similar distribution to previous years.

My "previous years" is in fact one year. A poor group. this year I have feed back from exam boards, two groups and a much better cohort.

"previous years" penalises my current groups.

[Hercwasonaroll]

Previous years isn't good for my students either. Last years small A level cohort did badly for a variety of reasons. This year should be much better and I'm worried they will be penalised. However I can put in what I think they would have got and know that I have done my best. I cannot be responsible or accountable for ofquals calculations.

[Piggywaspushed]

Surely the prior data would support that the students are different form the previous cohort?

My big dilemma is my students with prior performance data suggesting grade 5s and 6s who just happen to be amazing at my subject. I do have evidence to support this , though, should 'they' seek it out. My worry is they actually won't and just alter grades.

[noblegiraffe]

Schools who have made rapid improvement will undoubtedly be shafted in this.

I guess those schools should be preparing for kids to sit the exams.

[Hercwasonaroll]

Unfortunately we had a similar intake profile in both cohorts piggy.

[Piggywaspushed]

Ah, oh dear herc.