Make Exam Grades Reliable

Campaign group for Ofqual/Gov. to #MakeExamGradesReliable because a system where GCSE, AS and A-Level grades are reliable to “one grade either way”, isn’t fair.

[Make Exam Grades Reliable @tagsplusone]

This carries until later examination stages. Those Summer-born are disadvantaged at both GCSE and A-Level stage. Perhaps it’s time for a revisit to the Think Tank suggestion to have different grade boundaries for different seasons?

#alevels #gcses

[Dr James Shea @englishspecial]

Government calls for 90% of children to be born in September.
🫣

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

@rethinkassessmt How about by being honest about the (un)reliability of exam grades, as described on page 70 to this AQA report:
https://t.co/XiBJDUo4DP
@CommonsEd @Appg_Schools @AnnaFazack1 @louise_eccles @poppyeh @DanWorth @SchoolsWeek @HMC_Org @ASCL_UK @NEUnion @NAHT @SFCA_info @nicolawoolcock

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

“That examination is a very rough ... test of merit is generally admitted” was acknowledged in 1888. So why does this "roughness" - the unreliability of GCSE, AS and A level exam grades - persist to this day? My thanks to @IrenaBarker8 and @ISM_Plus!
https://t.co/COIaJylUwg

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

Why has Ofqual taken down a 'flagship' YouTube video of a conversation between leading educational journalist, Laura McInerney, and the then Chief Regulator, Dr Jo Saxton? My thanks to @TeachingTimes for posting this blog...
https://t.co/WxLHpanzQE
https://t.co/xq9YNuaag0

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

Can anyone explain these grade distributions? Why does English Language have two peaks at grades 3 and 5? And Spanish three, grades 3, 5 and 7? These aren't the only anomalies...
https://t.co/NzZrsCq3aZ
https://t.co/QbOPVxYRBB
@DanWorth @louise_eccles @poppyeh @sweale @HMC_Org

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

My thanks to Lynn Roberts and @EdCentral for publishing my blog about some features of this year's GCSE, AS and A level results that don't get mentioned in the official press release... @BeckyFrancis7 @louise_eccles @poppyeh @CommonsEd @Appg_Schools

https://t.co/NzZrsCq3aZ

[Make Exam Grades Reliable @tagsplusone]

OCR’s CEO Jill Duffy said regional inequalities need more attention when analysing the proportion of A*/A grades. I wonder whether she’d agree that grades being reliable to “one grade either way”, as @ofqual has acknowledged, needs more attention too?

https://t.co/WY0QpoWbj2

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

@hb_history Wow. It's already pretty bad - over the last couple of years, on average, every 10 GCSE appeals have discovered about 6 marking errors, and every 10 A level appeals about 8!!! @SecEd_Education @Appg_Schools @CommonsEd @miss_mcinerney @louise_eccles

https://t.co/wH90gbKS0S

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

Dear Sir Nick Gibb: Now that you have been awarded a knighthood, would you please be kind enough to answer the question "Are GCSE, AS and A level grades reliable to one grade either way or not?" as asked at the Lords Education for 11-16 Year Olds Committee on 13/7/2023?Thank you.

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

This is my submission to the Becky Francis Curriculum and Assessment Review, giving all the evidence about the unreliability of GCSE, AS and A level grades as awarded in England.
https://t.co/WrUk6fvV6U @miss_mcinerney @heymrshallahan @dutaut @DanWorth @LouisaClarence @poppyeh

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

The BIG QUESTION is "how many marking errors are there in the entire population of ~6 million GCSE, AS and A level scripts marked each year in England?" The only publicly available data is from the sample of 300,000 or so scripts challenged, just 5% of the whole...

[Make Exam Grades Reliable @tagsplusone]

This is a much wider problem than @ofqual is willing to admit. As has been acknowledged, grades are reliable to “one grade either way”. The system is riddled with flaws but yet no accountability is taken. Print this on exam certificates! @bphillipsonMP

https://t.co/vrnExXA4cV

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

Thank you, @TeachingTimes ! Yes, GCSE, AS and A level certificates in England should declare the truth that THE GRADES ON THIS CERTIFICATE ARE RELIABLE ONLY TO ONE GRADE EITHER WAY!
@IanMearnsExMP @miss_mcinerney @poppyeh @GLJourno @RichardA @Melissa_Benn
https://t.co/tHwYjslj4m

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

Even worse: there is no appeal. These 1.5 million grade errors arise from 'legitimate differences in academic opinion', and so cannot be discovered and corrected by a 'review of marking'.
https://t.co/aKUWyDnRj4
https://t.co/4CJ0yRNQza
@pollytoynbee @miss_mcinerney @dutaut @TES

[Make Exam Grades Reliable @tagsplusone]

1.5 million exam grades are WRONG each year. That’s 25%. That’s life chances changed - some ruined.

Why are you not making more efforts to change that? Why are you trying to hide it? Why has this become acceptable?

#gcses2024 #alevels2024 #exams2024

[Ofqual @ofqual]

Every year we see students breaking the rules by bringing a mobile phone or watch into the exam hall. 📵

Remind students to leave it in a safe place, that’s not in their pocket.

https://t.co/REjqtJjuPi

#Exams2024 @TheExamsOffice @SFCA_info @AoC_info @ASCL_UK @JCQcic

[Make Exam Grades Reliable @tagsplusone]

Concerning when grades are “reliable to one grade either way”, as @ofqual suggests.

How many students have truly been damaged? When will OFQUAL do something to fix this fact? How much more will it take? #gcses2024 #alevels2024 #exams2024

[Will Mac @MrMac_Math]

Next time a trendy celebrity rubbishes maths as a subject, remind them that it is the key to life-long social mobility for the vast majority of students.

A one grade improvement in GCSE Maths leads to ~£15,000 higher lifetime earnings.

https://t.co/2JJqqf5p1t

[Make Exam Grades Reliable @tagsplusone]

So a student with a Grade 3 in English Language this Summer might have been a pass had a different examiner marked the scripts?

Mainstreams newspapers should pick this up: @ofqual have got away with this for years.

#gcses2024 #alevels2024 #exams2024

https://t.co/i5u7gmNKAv

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

How about providing them with reliable grades too?
@Lords11to16Ed @CommonsEd @Appg_Schools @miss_mcinerney @heymrshallahan @dutaut @Melissa_Benn @schooltruth @warwickmansell @joe_crowley @RichardA @bethanstaton @LouisaClarence @AnnaFazack1 @nicolawoolcock @HMC_Org @ASCL_UK @tes

[Warwick Mansell @warwickmansell]

V important to be thinking about this.
https://t.co/CQeY4Bu9gg Politicians do indeed seem to enact education policy with little thought re impact on pupil mental health. Is this because it's just too hard to do so/monitoring test data is much easier? Needs attention, in any case.

[Dennis Sherwood @noookophile]

"Random" is the right word. Grades are the result of the lottery of who did the marking, with the overall outcome that grades "are reliable to one grade either way" (to quote Ofqual's Chief Regulator). This does great damage.
https://t.co/OeaiiIgiku
@FENews @CanburyPress