As a result of the disruption to the education of students caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has replaced public exams with a system to determine grades whereby teachers of Year 11 and 13 students must assess their students’ performance, only on what content has been delivered to them. Overall, the government’s intention is that it will be no easier or harder for a student to achieve a particular grade this year compared to previous years. We will examine the grades for this year’s cohort compared to cohorts from previous years when exams have taken place, to make sure grades are not overly lenient or harsh.
We have devised a system to obtain evidence which reflects the government’s requirements.
The gathered evidence of a student’s performance from throughout the course will be used to inform teachers’ grading judgements. Teachers are able to draw from a broad range of evidence across the taught content to determine the grades before submitting the grades to the exam boards. Importantly, when determining a grade, a teacher should reflect the standard at which the student is performing now, not their potential.
Assessment Process
The school will receive requirements for quality assurance processes from exam boards. The boards will review schools’ processes before grades are submitted. Once grades have been submitted to the exam boards, they will check evidence for a sample of student grades in a sample of subjects, in a sample of schools and colleges. The exam boards will decide whether the grades submitted by schools are a reasonable exercise of academic judgement of the students’ performance. If this is found not to be the case the exam boards will ask a school or college to investigate. Exam boards will not re-mark the student’s evidence or give an alternative grade. Grades would only be changed by the board if they are not satisfied with the outcome of an investigation or if malpractice is found. It is possible that checks will also be triggered due to a range of factors, but including whether a school’s results are out of line with expectations based on past performance. You can view our Assessment Process here for 11 and 13 year olds: Assessment Process 11-13
