Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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441. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of students in Gaelscoileanna that received a H1 in Irish in 2020; the percentage of students in Gaelscoileanna that received a H1 in Irish in 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25054/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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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 7 September. 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.

National policy in relation to examination outcomes, as given effect in Section 53 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended), is focussed on guarding against the release of information which would enable the compilation of information (that is not otherwise available to the general public) in relation to the comparative performance of schools in respect of the academic achievement of students. This means that generally examinations performance data analysis will only be presented and/or published on an aggregated, national basis and not at any more granular level, including by school but also by school type, geographic location, regional location, etc.

In the system of Calculated Grades, the standardisation process was applied to all schools in the same way – irrespective of whether the school was in the State system or not, or whether it was fee-charging or not. The statistical model used was blind to demographic characteristics, either at the level of the student or the school.

In the context of validation of the statistical model underpinning the system of Calculated grades, some information has been made available this year respect of DEIS versus non-DEIS schools. Data is also included in respect of non-recognised schools, which have no DEIS designation. This ‘Other’ category mostly consists of private non- recognised fee-charging schools/institutes but also includes prisons, back to education settings and special schools.

The information requested in relation to Gaelscoileanna is not available in line with national policy.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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442. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which the calculation of leaving certificate grades took account of the spelling and grammar waiver and the disability access route to education allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25055/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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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 system of calculated grades is underpinned by key principles of objectivity, equity and fairness. The process has been designed to arrive at fair representations of student performance which does not favour any type of student or school.

Circular 0037/2020, which was published on 21 May, set out the detailed guidance for schools on the operation of the calculated grades process. The document provided detailed information on the process of estimating marks for students to receive calculated grades. Additional guidance to schools on the avoidance of unconscious bias and interpreting evidence of achievement in the case of students with disabilities was issued to schools on 28 May.

In line with the guidance, teachers were asked to use their professional judgement to arrive at an estimated mark for each student. The guidance required teachers to utilise a number of records in assessing a student’s performance and progress; for example, classwork and homework; class assessments; examinations in school at Christmas or summer, mock exams and also coursework.

In the case of any approved reasonable accommodations, the estimate of the student’s likely performance was to be based on the assumption that this accommodation would have been available had the examinations been conducted in the normal way. Since examination accommodations are intended to reflect students’ normal way of working in class, this did not require any special intervention beyond the teacher’s understanding of how the student would achieve with the relevant supports in place.

As any approved reasonable accommodations were already provided for in the teacher estimates, this has been reflected in the final calculated grades awarded.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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443. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which the leaving certificate grade calculation algorithm was applied to those students that did not complete the junior certificate for any reason; the adjustment made in such situations to account for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25056/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Schools provided an estimated percentage mark and a rank order for each student’s subjects. 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. 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.It was inherent to the system of calculated grades that school estimates would be subject to adjustment through this standardisations process.

These adjustments resulted in the school estimates staying the same or being revised upwards or downwards. The 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.

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 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.

Following standardisation, 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 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%.

In terms of the grades awarded, 83% (almost 340,000) of all Leaving Certificate subject grades are either the same or higher than the school estimates while 17% (under 70,000) grades are lower.

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 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. This 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.

Individual Junior Cycle results was not used to determine any individual’s Calculated Grades. Rather, the Calculated Grades process took account of the overall Junior Cycle performance of the Leaving Certificate class of 2020 in each school and used this data to help in predicting the likely range of Leaving Certificate performance of that group. The fact that the vast majority of 2020 Leaving Certificate students would have sat the Junior Cycle examinations provides a good means of predicting the pattern of performance of these students at an aggregate level. The process was not applied at an individual student level and the absence of Junior Cycle results for an individual student l will not disadvantage that student within the statistical process.

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.

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: .

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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444. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which leaving certificate exams held in November 2020 will be marked; if they will be marked according to a curve similar to previous years; the appeals process for that set of exams; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25057/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations.

In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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445. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students that were downgraded in one subject in the 2020 leaving certificate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25058/20]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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446. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students that were downgraded in two subjects in the 2020 leaving certificate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25059/20]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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447. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students that were downgraded in three subjects in the 2020 leaving certificate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25060/20]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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448. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students that were downgraded in four subjects in the 2020 leaving certificate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25061/20]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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449. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students that were downgraded in five subjects in the 2020 leaving certificate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25062/20]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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450. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students that were downgraded in six subjects in the 2020 leaving certificate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25063/20]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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451. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students that were downgraded in six or more subjects in the 2020 leaving certificate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25064/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 445 to 451, inclusive, together.

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, 83% (almost 340,000) of all Leaving Certificate subject grades are either the same or higher than the school estimates while 17% (under 70,000) 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