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The government should publish the algorithm used to calculate Leaving Cert scores and clarify how Junior Cert results were used in the standardization process, said principals at two of the state’s routine schools.
Peter Kearns, director of the Dublin Institute of Education, and Patricia McGrath, director of Hewitt College in Cork, have called for greater transparency around the coding used to calculate grades, saying the process used by the government has “serious flaws. “.
The call for more information on the grading system comes after 6,100 Leaving Cert students from 610 schools earned improved Leaving Cert grades after a review of the calculated grading system that was found to contain errors.
Ms. McGrath said Sunday night that she had yet to come across any student who benefited from the grade increases, warning that “every student in every type of school” had been affected by failures in the school system ratings.
“At first, it seemed like private schools like us were the hardest hit, but the whole system is flawed,” said Ms. McGrath. Until the “set of rules behind the algorithm” was fully made public, it was impossible for principals and teachers to comprehensively question the grades their students received, she added.
He also expressed concern that students who did not study Irish at the Junior Cert level may have been unnecessarily penalized by the coding system and said that the aggregation of Irish, English and mathematics as subjects for grade calculation was also problematic.
Independent review
The institute’s director, Peter Kearns, said a “completely independent review of the entire qualification process” was urgently needed to restore people’s trust in the Irish education system. He also asked for clarity on how grades are processed when students had either earned their Junior Certificate at a different school or had not.
Students who will earn the Leaving Cert in 2021 need clarity on how their exams will progress, according to Ms. McGrath. “They need to know now if they will take an exam online or in the classroom so they don’t face a similar stressful situation at a time of uncertainty.”
Education Minister Norma Foley said Saturday that 5,408 students would see a grade increase in one of the Leaving Cert subjects, 621 students would receive a higher grade in two subjects and 71 students would receive a higher grade in three or more subjects.
Saoirse Corbett Fitzpatrick, who studied at the Dublin Institute of Education but didn’t get enough points for the college medical course of her dreams, was hoping to improve on Saturday. However, she was not one of the 6,100 who saw their points rise. “I don’t know of anyone at my school who has received an update,” he said Sunday. “It is disappointing and frustrating. The government continues to say that the system was fair, but it clearly wasn’t, as it has disadvantaged many students. It seems that the government is simply ignoring us. Most of my friends were severely demoted in September and only got their fifth or sixth CAO election. “
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