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Nearly a fifth of teacher-predicted results for Leaving Cert students are scheduled to be downgraded under the Department of Education’s new computed grade process.
Overall, a vast majority (79 percent) of estimated student scores will remain the same. The rest will be reduced (17%) or increased (4%).
Approximately 60,000 Leaving Cert students will receive the final calculated results of their grades by 9 am next Monday.
They are based on a combination of estimated teacher ratings and a standardization process, which adjusts grades up or down to help prevent grade inflation.
Defending this standardization process, Education Minister Norma Foley said this happened in normal years and she was sure it was “the fairest approach and the correct approach.”
He said the adjustments would help prevent “excessively high marks” from being given.
This led to the number of top grades awarded by teachers this year doubling or even tripling what would normally be expected.
Despite this, he said this year’s results will be “stronger” or more generous than previous years’ Leaving Cert results.
At a press conference in government buildings, Ms Foley also said that the cabinet had agreed to withdraw a controversial measure known as “school profiling”.
This is due to the use of a school’s historical grade data that is used to adjust the results of this year’s final certificates.
Ms. Foley said that she had taken this step so that students from disadvantaged backgrounds were not treated unfairly.
“Your school will not determine the results it achieves through standardization this year,” he said.
“I am pleased that we took the time to do this well, that we learned from others and listened to the concerns of the students.”
A breakdown of the results of the newly calculated scores now shows that the proportion of reductions for students in disadvantaged or Deis schools is lower (13.6 percent) compared to other schools (16.8 percent).
Furthermore, the proportion of improvements in disadvantaged schools is slightly higher (5%) compared to other schools (3.7%).
Overall, government officials hope that the key differences to the Irish approach to calculated grades will avoid the chaos and controversy that was witnessed in the UK when student calculated grades were published.
Officials say the Irish system places a “very strong” emphasis on teacher qualifications rather than the standardization process.
They also say that the fact that teacher qualifications in Ireland were based on percentage grades rather than grades means that our system is more accurate.
It also allows exceptional students from underperforming schools to be recognized.
However, the move to allow for more generous grades this year will lead to grade inflation, negatively impacting up to 20,000 students who have applied to college this year based on results from previous years.
Authorities say the release of more than 1,250 higher education places into high-demand courses this year is aimed at ensuring more students get their first choice and taking some of the heat out of the CAO points race.
Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said: “Providing more seats in high demand courses gives us scope to ease anxiety, reduce uncertainty and demonstrate the ability of the education system to respond to student concerns.”
He said the additional venues focused on high-demand programs that traditionally attract students at a variety of CAO point levels, such as nursing, medicine, pharmacy, post-primary and other areas.
Mr. Harris said this will have a “cascade effect”, creating more capacity on lower demand courses.
Opposition parties gave the blanket announcement a mixed response by welcoming the move to remove the “school profile,” but expressed concern that some students may still be treated unfairly.
In response to the announcement, the Irish Universities Association said it welcomed the additional higher education places and was working to identify courses where student demand is greatest, such as healthcare and teaching, and where additional capacity can be added.
The Higher Education Technological Association, which represents the institutes of technology, said it was satisfied that the principle of equity has been applied fairly in all stages of the process, both in relation to the evaluation of i students within the cohort Leaving Cert this year, as in the evaluation of its performance relative to previous Leaving Cert cohorts.
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