4 ms·

Algorithmic adjustment of grades causes chaos in UK exam system

9 points by daverol 6y ago

daverol 6y ago
Background on the algorithms here: https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2020/08/a-level-results-2020-how-have-grades-been-calculated/ https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2020/08/a-level-results-2...
jpxw 6y ago
This really does seem very unfair. I went to a middle-of-the-road comprehensive, and in one particular subject our entire (small) class happened to be talented - all of us but one got A*s. My understanding is that this wouldn’t be possible under this algorithm. On the other hand, I’m struggling to think of a system which would be better, which also preserves the integrity of A-levels as a qualification.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- sukilot 6y ago
  This scenario was the climax of the movie Stand and Deliver.
g_p 6y ago
Has anyone affected (or their parents) considered how this sits in line with the GDPR (implemented as the Data Protection Act 2018). It has various provisions for purely automated decision making processes that have significant effects on a person, and some of these require prior impact assessments to be carried out. It's quite likely these weren't carried out, given the circumstances. Might be an angle for anyone affected that's looking to learn some "real world" skills they weren't taught in the syllabus, and fight back on such a basis.
- sukilot 6y ago
  There was an assessment. The assessment said everything is fine.
viraptor 6y ago
I'm not familiar with the UK system, so I'm confused here. Did the exams not take place? Or are they done by the schools? I though the a-levels are standardised country-wide / not sure where the original grade they modify comes from.
- neilwilson 6y ago
  They didn’t happen due to full lockdown that shut the schools. A levels are decided by a single exam in May/June after two years of study. University starts in September and university places are offered based upon estimates of the grade an individual will get. This happens early in the year Jan/Feb time and is called a “conditional offer”. Those who don’t get the grades in the exam in August to satisfy the conditional offer go into a system called “Clearing” to see what other University courses are still available. The estimates Universities use come from two sources. Either the teachers just vouch for a set of grades, or the school runs a set of test exams called “Mocks” in Nov/December and the grades from them are the estimates. Covid threw a huge wrench in the works of this Byzantine system. The problem is that mocks and the actual results have been drifting apart for years, with the universities compensating course by course. The Ivory Tower technocrats genuinely believed they could impose an algorithmic correction top down and everybody would just accept it. They have had a rude awakening to the political reality - yet again.
  - sukilot 6y ago
    A system fundamentally broken from the start -- a a stack of separate high stakes exams for 2 years of work (so if you are sick one day you get rejected from college), collapses due to one of many foreseeable potential causes.
sukilot 6y ago
The only reason any of this matters is that higher education is being held as a scarce commodity, with "elite" schools limiting attendance, to prevent lower class people from rising above their class.

9 points by daverol 6y ago

Background on the algorithms here: https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2020/08/a-level-results-2020-how-have-grades-been-calculated/ https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2020/08/a-level-results-2...

jpxw 6y ago

This really does seem very unfair. I went to a middle-of-the-road comprehensive, and in one particular subject our entire (small) class happened to be talented - all of us but one got A*s. My understanding is that this wouldn’t be possible under this algorithm. On the other hand, I’m struggling to think of a system which would be better, which also preserves the integrity of A-levels as a qualification.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
sukilot 6y ago
This scenario was the climax of the movie Stand and Deliver.

g_p 6y ago

Has anyone affected (or their parents) considered how this sits in line with the GDPR (implemented as the Data Protection Act 2018). It has various provisions for purely automated decision making processes that have significant effects on a person, and some of these require prior impact assessments to be carried out. It's quite likely these weren't carried out, given the circumstances. Might be an angle for anyone affected that's looking to learn some "real world" skills they weren't taught in the syllabus, and fight back on such a basis.

sukilot 6y ago
There was an assessment. The assessment said everything is fine.

viraptor 6y ago

I'm not familiar with the UK system, so I'm confused here. Did the exams not take place? Or are they done by the schools? I though the a-levels are standardised country-wide / not sure where the original grade they modify comes from.

neilwilson 6y ago
They didn’t happen due to full lockdown that shut the schools. A levels are decided by a single exam in May/June after two years of study. University starts in September and university places are offered based upon estimates of the grade an individual will get. This happens early in the year Jan/Feb time and is called a “conditional offer”. Those who don’t get the grades in the exam in August to satisfy the conditional offer go into a system called “Clearing” to see what other University courses are still available. The estimates Universities use come from two sources. Either the teachers just vouch for a set of grades, or the school runs a set of test exams called “Mocks” in Nov/December and the grades from them are the estimates. Covid threw a huge wrench in the works of this Byzantine system. The problem is that mocks and the actual results have been drifting apart for years, with the universities compensating course by course. The Ivory Tower technocrats genuinely believed they could impose an algorithmic correction top down and everybody would just accept it. They have had a rude awakening to the political reality - yet again.
- sukilot 6y ago
  A system fundamentally broken from the start -- a a stack of separate high stakes exams for 2 years of work (so if you are sick one day you get rejected from college), collapses due to one of many foreseeable potential causes.

sukilot 6y ago

The only reason any of this matters is that higher education is being held as a scarce commodity, with "elite" schools limiting attendance, to prevent lower class people from rising above their class.