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The standardization process used to estimate Leaving Certificate scores would not have discriminated against students attending disadvantaged schools, even if data on the schools’ past performance had been included on the test, the Superior Court heard.
Feichín McDonagh SC, for student Freddie Sherry, said that the system envisaged by the authorities to estimate the scores of students who had to take the Leaving Cert exams in 2020 was “highly sophisticated” and was not comparable to the models that were used in England and Scotland.
The lawyer said the standardization process used to assess and award calculated A-Level scores in Scotland and England this year received much criticism.
This was because many students from disadvantaged areas in the UK had their grades disproportionately downgraded, compared to students from affluent areas or those who attended paid schools.
The Irish authorities had taken steps, in formulating the standardization process here, to ensure that the Irish process, while using historical school data, did not discriminate against students from disadvantaged areas.
The lawyer said that in mid-August the media published several articles citing fears that what happened in England and Scotland could happen here if the schools’ previous performances on the Leaving Cert were used to estimate grades.
The lawyer said that the articles contained information that was not correct, as the material was available in the public domain of the department to demonstrate that safeguards had been included in the Irish system to deal with problems that occurred in the UK.
While the lawyer said he was “not criticizing any journalists”, the material published in those articles on the Irish grade estimation process “was not particularly well informed” and “lacked information”.
Despite the availability of information to show that safeguards existed, no articles were published stating that what happened in the UK could not happen here.
The lawyer said that, for reasons not explained to his client, the minister, following the controversy in the UK, made the decision on August 21 not to use historical data from schools as part of the standardization process.
This was despite the fact that officials had given him information prior to their decision that using the historical data would not adversely affect students attending schools in disadvantaged areas, he added.
Mr. Sherry attended Belvedere College Dublin, and claims that he was unfairly demoted, leading him to miss his first-choice pharmacy course at Trinity College Dublin.
Your action is the test case of approximately 50 challenges from other Leaving Cert students against the calculated grades process.
Mr. Sherry, of Newtown, Celbridge, Co Kildare, claims that the Minister’s decision to remove historical school records in the computed grade process resulted in his grade being unfairly lowered by 55 points. CERT leaving.
He was hugely disappointed when his teachers’ estimated total CAO points of 542 for him dropped to 487 in the process.
It claims that the Minister’s leadership interfered with the calculated ratings process overseen by an independent steering committee and was illegal.
The Minister and the State deny the claims and maintain that there is no reason to believe that Mr. Sherry would be in an improved position if the school’s historical data were included.
It is also denied that the Minister has breached commitments in terms of equity and comparability with respect to the 2020 ratings, and that the action is non-justiciable and vague.
Sherry was treated the same as any other student who sat for exams, respondents say.
Defendants also claim that Belvedere College students received, on average, higher scores in 2020 compared to 2017-19 and there is no basis for any claim that Mr. Sherry would have been treated more favorably in another category. of school.
Hearing continues before Judge Charles Meenan.
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