131–140 of 143 posts
“there was no direct connection between an individual's prior achievement and their predicted grade.”
Who wrote this algorithm and can we see it?
Two things worth noting that the article doesn't go into... 1) "The year-on-year rise in proportion of students achieving A or A+ grades was much higher at independent schools than state comprehensives" https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/13/england-a-... Essentially, students lucky enough to be in private education were more likely to see their grades go up / stay the same, compared to students receiving…
Students in “private” schools get a better quality of education than those receiving “free” education. And it isn't free, we pay for it through taxation. And over here the “private” schools are called “public”. While the public schools are called comprehensive.
Two things worth noting that the article doesn't go into... 1) "The year-on-year rise in proportion of students achieving A or A+ grades was much higher at independent schools than state comprehensives" https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/13/england-a-... Essentially, students lucky enough to be in private education were more likely to see their grades go up / stay the same, compared to students receiving…
> Essentially, students lucky enough to be in private education were more likely to see their grades go up / stay the same, compared to students receiving free education seeing grades going down. Students in “private” schools get a better quality of education than those receiving “free” education. And it isn't free, we pay for it through taxation. And over here the “private” schools are called “public”. While the pub…
And yes, obviously the better education leads to better grades, but that's a completely different issue.
The point in my comment that you replied to is not that independent schools got better grades than state schools this year; it's that their % improvement from previous years to this year is way higher than non-independant schools % change from previous years.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd prefer constructive comebacks from people rather than downvotes. I can't learn from downvotes. But OMG the competence of the UK govt. It's like they literally can't do... anything without screwing it up. It is bizarre. Then they try to paper over it with words.
I think it's mostly due to this statement: "I'd say it was more down to the culture of parents in the poor areas mostly not giving a shit about their kid's education" Which sounds nasty, but rings true for a big part of England. It's also an uncomfortable truth, which basically always leads to downvotes. Once a year (safe for this year, obviously) I'm in Blackpool at the Rebellion Punk Festival[1]. What you see in Bl…
> rare young person trying to be an achiever you can almost be sure he's mocked and bullied by his peers
Yes. Someone on the web (maybe here, maybe slashdot) said that when someone tries, they're seen as trying to get above their station. Consequences follow.
I spent a couple of years on a sink estate in the UK as a kid. I know what it does to people.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure. It makes sense. I don't believe in the media conspiracy that the Tories created an algorithm that systematically awards higher grades to rich kids because of inherent classism or even by accident. But I do really disagree with the insistence that all teachers in comprehensive schools were conspiring to give their kids higher grades than they deserved -- this view was frequently repeated on social media. Even if…
Just to be clear about what actually happened, the results were weighted on a per-school basis, based on results from the previous four years. The disparity in weighting is not solely down to effects at the top of the distribution.
I just read this article, and it was interesting.
Couldn't the UK just have a regular exam, just with the social distancing measures implemented? The exams were held in many European countries with these measures and nothing bad happened and the children has received a fair examination for the University
There's no good answer here, the unfairness is an inevitable side effect of lockdown, along with people dying due to stopped cancer treatments and a host of other issues. Using teacher's predicted grades is stupid: teachers use predictions in whatever way they think will best motivate their students. If the student is lazy, they'll under-predict to shock them into revising more. If the student is not very confident,…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The algorithm took the teachers' recommended grades and used them only to rank the students at that school. The actual grades were calculated based on past years' performance for each school. So if you were the top performer at a low-ranking school, your grade would be in line with top performers at that school in previous years.
No, teachers submitted both predicted grades, and in large cohort classes (such as English and Maths), a rank ordering of the entire cohort.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's a write-up of the situation, shared on Facebook publicly, from a friend involved in careers at a UK Sixth Form college (where students take their A-Levels): ################### I've spent the last two days dealing with very upset young people who have had their plans ripped up. Some will still be able to go to university, but not the one they planned on and have been forced into clearing, some won't be able to…
Thank you for information. As a Scot, with a relative involved (she got what she needed), I am grateful, that the Scot gov changed their minds and used teachers grades without moderation. Even though our mocks (“prelims”) are produced by the SQA who also do the main exams. It’s a unprecedented situation, let’s cut some slack and base it on the best info that we have, the teachers view. I hope English gov see sense bu…
Couldn't the UK just have a regular exam, just with the social distancing measures implemented? The exams were held in many European countries with these measures and nothing bad happened and the children has received a fair examination for the University
My brother here in the Netherlands just got his average grade (of the test throughout the year that count toward the final grade) for each subject as final grade, which seems like it's fair enough.