The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a direct result of COVID-19, which prevented the state from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations.
The design of the Calculated Grades model was informed by advice from a Technical Working Group comprising experts drawn from the State Examinations Commission, the Inspectorate of my Department, the Educational Research Centre and international external expertise.
Calculated Grades were generated using a combination of information provided by the school about a student’s expected performance in an examination and national data available in relation to the performance of students in examinations over a period of time.
The focus of the Calculated Grades process has at all times been on the student and not on the system and my recent decision, announced on 1 September, to remove the school-by-school historical data from the national standardisation process underpins this commitment, ensuring that the performance of this cohort of students is not constrained by how their school has historically performed at Leaving Certificate.
The system of Calculated Grades, had at all times, concern for this group of students who completed their second level education under the most unprecedented and difficult circumstances. Through the Calculated Grades process my Department has sought to ensure that the grades students received are fair and comparable representations of their levels of achievement. The standardisation process has ensured that the results issued are comparable across year groups and between schools.
A high value was placed on the estimates of performance coming from schools with a focus on aligning standards across schools, ensuring that the system was adjusted appropriately for any over or under-estimation coming through the school estimates. While the estimated marks have been subject to a process of adjustment to ensure fairness and comparability across schools, the national standardisation process operated on the premise that the school estimates should only be adjusted through the standardisation process where there was credible statistical evidence to justify changing them.
The standardisation model has been subject to a high degree of human oversight by the National Standardisation Group with a number of safeguards built in to ensure fair results for students.
Technical details of the Calculated Grades model and standardisation process were published on the date of issue of the results on 7 September and are available here: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/2ed9b-leaving-certificate-2020-calculated-grades-technical-reports/.
