Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

116. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the case of a student (details supplied) whose leaving certificate calculated grades were downgraded by one grade in six of their seven higher level subjects; if she is satisfied that this student has not been unfairly disadvantaged by the calculated grades system, particularly in view of the fact that 85% of their grades were downgraded compared to a national average of 17%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24494/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a direct result of COVID-19, which prevented the state from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations.

The design of the Calculated Grades model was informed by advice from a Technical Working Group comprising experts drawn from the State Examinations Commission, the Inspectorate of the Department of Education and Skills, the Educational Research Centre and international external expertise.

The focus of the Calculated Grades process has at all times been on the student and not on the system and my recent decision, announced on 1 September, to remove the school-by-school historical data from the national standardisation process underpins this commitment, ensuring that the performance of this cohort of students is not constrained by how their school has historically performed at Leaving Certificate.

Schools provided an estimated percentage mark and a rank order (the student's place in the class group) for each student’s subjects.  We know from research that teachers are very good at making judgements about their students in the local context of the school.  Schools approached this task in a very professional manner, in line with detailed guidelines about the process, but inevitably some schools were overly harsh in their estimations while others were overly generous. This is to be expected given that there is no national standard on which to base an estimated mark.  But to be fair to the class of 2020, the teacher judgements made at the level of the school had to be adjusted so that a common national standard was applied.  

The process of national standardisation was applied to the school information in order to ensure comparability between the standards applied by individual schools and the national standard.  This standardising process happens every year and would have happened in 2020 had the Leaving Certificate examinations been run as normal.The standardisation process applied across all subject and levels.  The adjustments that occurred through standardisation resulted in the school estimates staying the same or being revised upwards or downwards. The degree to which mark changes occurred related to the degree of over or underestimation in the school estimates for each subject and each level.  This means that some students experienced mark changes from the school estimates but no changes to the grades based on the school estimates; while others will have experienced marks changes from the teacher estimates leading to grade changes in one or more of their subjects. 

The overall data on school estimated marks showed that there was a very significant rise in estimated grades against what would normally be achieved nationally. This level of grade increase based on the school estimates would have been unrealistic. For example, based on the school data there would have been 13.8% H1 grades this year when in a normal year there is 5.8%. Even with the standardisation process the rate of H1s this year is over 9%.

In the absence of the Leaving Certificate examinations in 2020 every effort has been made to make the system as fair as possible for as many students a possible. The statistical model used was blind to demographic characteristics (e.g. school type, student gender, etc.) either at the level of the student or the school.The standardisation process means that the same standard has been applied uniformly across all schools  his means anyone using the certificate to make a judgement between two people who hold this certificate, either now or in the future, can place equal value on the same grade in the same subject, without regard to where they went to school, as they would in a normal year.

While some students will be disappointed at the results they have achieved, this is the case every year when the Leaving Certificate results are published. It may be more difficult for students to understand when they see the estimated mark from the school has been adjusted downwards.

The standardisation model has been subject to a high degree of human oversight by the National Standardisation Group with a number of safeguards built in to ensure fair results for students.

Technical details of the Calculated Grades model and standardisation process were published on the date of issue of the results and are available here: .

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

117. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the breakdown of the number of leaving certificate students in 2020 who received results downgrades through the standardisation process in 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 subjects, respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24505/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a direct result of COVID-19, which prevented the state from running the conventional 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.

Schools provided an estimated percentage mark and a rank order (the student's place in the class group) for each student’s subjects.  We know from research that teachers are very good at making judgements about their students in the local context of the school. 

The process of national standardisation was applied to the school information in order to ensure comparability between the standards applied by individual schools and the national standard.  It is important to note that, unlike in other jurisdictions, the starting point for the standardisation process was the estimated percentage marks provided by the school. 

The adjustments that occurred through standardisation resulted in the school estimates staying the same or being revised upwards or downwards. While the estimated marks have been subject to a process of adjustment to ensure fairness and comparability across schools, the national standardisation process operated on the premise that the school estimates should only be adjusted through the standardisation process where there was credible statistical evidence to justify changing them. 

Following the standardisation process, the estimated percentage mark was converted to a calculated mark and subsequently, a calculated grade which was provided to students on 7September. It is only at this point that students were awarded a grade therefore, it is not accurate to state that student(s) were downgraded, or upgraded, through the standardisation process.  Rather the grade that was awarded following the standardisation process is the grade for the 2020 Leaving Certificate (Calculated Grades. 

The degree to which mark changes occurred related to the degree of over or underestimation in the school estimates for each subject and each level.  This means that some students experienced mark changes from the school estimates but no changes to the grades based on the school estimates; while others will have experienced changes to the marks leading to a change in the grade that would have been awarded based on the school estimates in one or more of their subjects. 

In terms of the grades awarded, there has been no change of grade in 79.2% of cases, with 83.1% of all grades either the same or higher than the school estimates while 16.9% of grades are lower. More detailed statistics are available on my Department’s website at: .

Of the students due to take examinations in the Leaving Certificate (including the Leaving Certificate Vocational) programme, the data requested on the number of students whose grades were different to those that would have been awarded based on the school estimates are set out in the following tables.  It should be noted that some students had grades which were higher than the school estimates in some subjects and lower in others. 

Number of grades which were lower than the school estimates by student

Number of grades which were higher than the school estimates by student

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

118. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will broaden the grounds for appeal with regard to the calculated grades process, in order that students can appeal the actual grades they received rather than simply checking for clerical errors in the transfer of grades data, particularly as it is the first time the calculated grades model has been used in Ireland and as such it has not been tested; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24506/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The results of the Leaving Certificate 2020 Calculated Grades were made available to all students who opted to receive them at 9.00 am on 7 September via the Calculated Grades Student Portal. I would like to congratulate all students for their achievements in what has been a very trying time for them due to the impact of COVID-19 on their education.

The Calculated Grades Student Portal has reopened on 14 September at 9.00 am to allow students to view their estimated percentage mark and calculated mark. Students may wish to have access to and consider this data if they are considering an appeal of their Calculated Grade.

Students who are disappointed with the Calculated Grades they have received in one or more subjects will have the opportunity to submit an appeal.

The appeals process is a process review focussed on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data through the process.

It is not possible to appeal the information (estimated percentage mark or rank order) provided by the school.  Due to the nature of the Calculated Grades system the professional judgement of the school is outside of the appeals process.

It should further be noted that the design of the statistical model and the application of the national standardisation process is also outside of the scope of the appeals process. 

The appeals process has opened on 14 September and students can access this via the Calculated Grades Student Portal. Students will have until 5.00 pm on 16 September to submit an appeal.

The appeal process will include three stages:

Stage 1: Checks will be undertaken on the forms completed by the school and that the information was transferred correctly from the forms to the data collection system.

Stage 2: There will be a review to ensure that the data was correctly received and processed through the systems used in the national standardisation process conducted by the Department.

Data checks will include a check to ensure that the rank order of the class group for the subject and level taken has been preserved in the standardisation process and that students placed on the same school-estimated mark in the same subject and at the same level taken by the school are conferred with the same calculated mark.

Stages 1 and 2 will be taken together.

Stage 3: Students unhappy with the outcome of the above process can invoke a separate process to have their appeal reviewed by independent Appeals Scrutineers. These Scrutineers are independent of the Department.

The Independent Appeals Scrutineers will check to ensure the correct procedures were followed throughout the appeals process. The Scrutineers will have access to the records and documentation considered at Stages 1 and 2. 

Students who consider that their case has not been processed correctly can make a complaint to the Ombudsman or, in the case of students under 18 years of age, the Ombudsman for Children.

If following the appeals process students remain dissatisfied with the outcome, students will be able to sit the 2020 written Leaving Certificate exams. Subject to health advice, these will begin on 16 November. Further details about these exams will be provided by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) at a later stage. Those who sit the examinations will be credited with the higher subject grade achieved between the Calculated Grade and the written exam.