[ad_1]
Attorneys have reported an increase in inquiries from parents and teaching staff at fee-paying and routine schools that they feel they lost with the new calculated grades process.
Many believe that the decision to remove the “school profile,” a controversial measure that took into account a school’s past performance on the Leaving Cert, from the computed grade process ended up penalizing high-performing schools.
Education Minister Norma Foley, however, has said that the grading process has been “blind” to the socioeconomic status of the schools and that all students were treated fairly and equitably.
A legal source, who declined to be identified, said parents and teachers at particular fee-paying schools were surprised by the relatively low proportion of higher grades in many cases at a time when there was significant grade inflation in the results at the national level.
“Today we received a lot of inquiries about this from parents and teachers who saw fewer high marks and lower points than they would have expected,” said an attorney.
“Our advice is to wait until the CAO offers the broadcast on Friday and see what the estimated teacher qualifications were before they were adjusted on Monday.”
The source said that if there was evidence of injustice in this process, such as students being disproportionately demoted, it could lead to judicial review proceedings.
‘Irony’ of the estimated rating
Brian Gill, head of labor law and business litigation at Callan Tansey Solicitors, also said that disclosure of estimated teacher qualifications would be crucial in determining whether students had grounds for legal action.
“The irony of this is that a lot of the schools that have been doing great outside of the system for many years are the ones that now feel like they have lost this time,” he said.
A student who attended a routine private school said there was great disappointment in the grades released Monday.
“I’m 40 points less than expected and got the best results from my friends,” said Rachel, who declined to give her last name.
“Some were 100 points below. It seems like anyone at my school or other private schools targeting around 500 has been down 40-100 points. “
Another teacher said they believed there was a political decision to normalize past school performance, negatively impacting the “above average” private school population.
[ad_2]