Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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506. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the statistical methods which will be used for the standardisation of results submitted by schools in the context of the calculation of grades within the leaving certificate; and the relevant mathematical equations. [14644/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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A system of Calculated Grades was put in place by my predecessor due to the inability to run the normal Leaving Certificate examinations. The purpose of this process is to allow as many students as possible to progress to employment, further education and training, or higher education in a way that is fair and equitable to all Leaving Certificate students.

For the calculated grades system to be operated with integrity, an estimated percentage mark, based on credible, satisfactory evidence, can only be accepted from an appropriate source. This is necessary to ensure fairness to all students.

Detailed guidance for schools on calculated grades was published on 21 May. The document sets out information on the process that was to be undertaken for estimating marks for students to receive calculated grades, and was sent to all schools. The document, together with Frequently Asked Questions, are available on www.gov.ie/leavingcertificate. Additional guidance to schools on the avoidance of unconscious bias, interpreting evidence of achievement in the case of students with disabilities, and further guidance on bonus marks that would have applied for answering the written examinations through Irish issued to schools on 28 May.

Schools have since returned estimated percentage marks for students to the Departments Calculated Grades Executive Office.

Research makes clear that because teacher judgments are made in the context of each school, they need to be examined and adjusted at a national level to ensure comparability across different schools and that a common national standard is applied.

In the national standardisation phase school-sourced data will be combined with historical data. This standardisation process will be used to ensure that the calculated grades reflect standards that are properly aligned across schools and with a common national standard. The key principles of objectivity, equity and fairness will be further underpinned within the national standardisation process and the process has been designed to arrive at fair representations of student performance which does not favour any type of student or school. These data sets allow the production of good calculations of the distributions of marks to be expected for each school and nationally.

The relevant Department data sets that support the process include mark data at:

- National level for both Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate examinations for 2019 and previous years;

- School level for both Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate examinations for 2019 and previous years;

- Candidate level for both Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate examinations for 2019 and previous years;

- Candidate level for the Junior Certificate results of the 2020 Leaving Certificate cohort of candidates.

In advance of receiving the estimated percentage marks from schools the information about how the school has done in the past and the information about the strengths and weakness of the current group of students will all be assembled and will be used to predict the level of achievement that this particular group of students would have been expected to reach in that subject if those students had sat the Leaving Certificate examination in the normal way. This information is then combined with the estimates that the school has provided in order to generate the fairest possible result that can be calculated. Checks have to be made to ensure that the outcomes of the standardisation process are valid – this involves checking that the standardisation process has not been unfair to students.

An independent Steering Committee chaired by Dr Áine Lawlor, former Director of the Teaching Council, is overseeing the quality and integrity of the outcomes of the calculated grades system. It is intended to publish further details about the standardisation process following the issue of calculated grades to candidates.

After the national standardisation process, the calculated marks will be converted into calculated grades, and these grades will be issued to candidates. The calculated grades will be expressed in the same manner as currently applies to Leaving Certificate grades - H1, H2, O1, O2, etc.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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507. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who applied for calculated grades; and the number who have applied for same who will not receive a calculated grade for that subject. [14645/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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A system of Calculated Grades was put in place by my predecessor due to the inability to run the normal Leaving Certificate examinations. The purpose of this process is to allow as many students as possible to progress to employment, further education and training, or higher education in a way that is fair and equitable to all Leaving Certificate students.

Calculated Grades are based on an estimated percentage mark provided by schools. The estimated percentage mark is based on a teacher’s professional judgement of what the candidate would be expected to achieve had they sat the Leaving Certificate examination

Students were required to register for calculated grades using the student portal which was available between 26^thand 28^thMay. 57,972 candidates for the established Leaving Certificate programme registered on the portal and 2,855 students for the Leaving Certificate Applied programme.

The system is also being used to provide Year 1 LCA students (5^thyears) with calculated grades for elements of the programme that they have completed in 2020. There are also 3644 such students entered.

The Calculated Grades Executive Office (CGEO) in the Department of Education has developed a comprehensive guide to calculated grades for out of school learners – the students who are studying entirely outside of school – and has contacted each student individually on 25 June to invite them to apply for calculated grades. The closing date for applications was last Thursday 2 July 2020 and applications are now being processed.

In cases where a student who is attending school, but who is studying one or more subjects outside of school, school principals were asked to make every effort to provide an estimated mark for that subject(s) provided there was sufficient, credible evidence available from an appropriate source. If the principal was unable to provide an estimated mark for any student they were asked to notify my Department. As part of its commitment to ensure that a calculated grade is provided to as many students as possible, the CGEO are currently undertaking a review of these reports with the schools involved to ensure that the correct procedures were followed.

While the aim of the Department is to provide a calculated grade for as many students as possible, despite every effort being made by schools and by the Department of Education, there will be a small number of cases where there is no credible evidence to support a calculated grade in a particular subject. To attempt to give a calculated grade in such cases would be unfair to all other candidates.

Such students will have an opportunity to sit the Leaving Certificate examinations when it is safe to do so.

No decisions have been issued by the Calculated Grades Office in respect of any of these students – either those studying independently, or those attending school but studying a subject (or subjects) outside school, to date.