Students leaving Cert cannot contact teachers or discuss estimated grades – Department of Education



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Teachers and Leaving Cert candidates cannot have further discussions about student performance in the past two years, nor can they discuss the estimated grade that the teacher will award a student under the new calculated grading system.

Updated Department of Education councils also confirm that no additional work can be accepted from students after May 11, the official deadline for enrollment for the Leaving Cert class of 2020.

However, candidates remain students of the school and may continue to access the wellness and other supports provided through the Student Support Team until the end of the period.

The last tip comes before detailed guidelines for teachers on how to approach the unprecedented task of providing calculated grades for their students, as an alternative to Leaving Cert exams.

In a new FAQ post on its website, the Department has advocated using calculated grades as the “fairest way possible” to address the effects of lack of schooling and other problems caused by Covid-19.

And it also seeks to calm any student’s apprehension about the unprecedented process of awarding grades at the end of school.

“Students have had a very broken school experience: some have had access to education through online learning, others have not,” he says in a new FAQ on his website.

It says teachers will review various data on student work over the past two years and should keep a record of the evidence that they used to hit the mark, as well as the overall class rank for the student.

Once teachers have agreed on a percentage grade and a class rank for each student, the principal will conduct a further review, after which the school will submit its “results” to the Department of Education, which will conduct a national process for standardization.

That process will involve a series of checks and balances, taking into account two other data: the pattern of school performance in Leaving Cert in the last three years, as well as the Junior Cert results of the current Leaving Cert class.

In its updated council, posted as a FAQ on its website, the Department seeks to assure students that “the standardization process does not favor any type of student or school.”

“No matter how good you are and no matter what your school is like, if your school gives us an accurate estimate of your expected performance and also gives accurate estimates for the rest of your class, then everyone will be treated fairly.” state.

He says the most important information about each student is the estimated grades and the rating provided by the school and the standardization process serves to ensure that the school has not been too harsh or forgiving.

“If you are a particularly strong candidate in your class, regardless of the school you attend, you will continue to emerge as a particularly strong candidate, and your calculated score will be as close to what you would have achieved on the tests as it is. possible to calculate, “he says

While some of the estimated grades may be adjusted up or down within the standardization process, the Department says that will depend “on the precision with which your teachers and the school have made their estimates, not on the type of school in the found.

“For example, we expect that it is quite common for estimated grades in one subject from one school to go up and that grades in another subject from the same school have to move down.

The Department says that all the information gathered “will be used to predict the level of achievement you as a group were expected to have achieved in that area if they had passed the Leaving Certificate exam in the normal way.

“This means that if your class is particularly ‘strong’, your class’s expected level of achievement would reflect that fact, and therefore the standardization process will take this fully into account. If the school’s estimated grades correctly reflect this then we don’t need to move them up or down “,

He says research and statistics allow them to understand to what extent student groups at one school have similar results from one year to the next and to take into account the fact that people within those groups may have achievement levels that can vary. quite.

He adds: “The statistical process we are using will not impose any predetermined score on any individual in the class or school. No matter how good you are and no matter what your school is like, if your school gives us an accurate estimate of your expected performance and also gives accurate estimates for the rest of your class, then everyone will be treated fairly. “

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