Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 October 2020
237. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education the positive factors which led to the choosing of a company (details supplied) to supply the leaving certificate calculated grading model; and if there was work of a similar purpose, or with a similar level and skill required, undertaken by the company previously. [29833/20]
View answerThe 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.
As part of initial contingency planning for the Leaving Certificate 2020, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) procured international expertise through Polymetrika International Inc. (PII). PII’s principal, Fernando Cartwright, is a highly skilled expert in the areas of psychometrics, large-scale educational assessments, and computer programming related to these areas. He has had significant involvement with the Irish educational system since 2010 and, unlike most experts of his calibre, has a strong knowledge and familiarity with the Irish educational system. He worked with the Educational Research Centre in providing a full technical review of Ireland’s PISA results in 2009, producing innovative research in an Irish context that has had a global impact
Mr Cartwright’s extensive experience, expertise and unique set of skills, coupled with his knowledge of the Irish education system, were the reasons he was originally approached by the SEC. Other possible sources of expertise/agencies that the SEC or my Department might have turned to (such as OfQual in England, or the Scottish Qualifications Authority) were fully consumed with the development of their own alternative models, all of which were designed around the requirements of the A-level system rather than the broader-based Leaving Certificate approach.
Polymetrika played an integral part of the development and running of the Calculated Grades model, and as such the contract for Polymetrika was extended to implement the Calculated Grades model. This was done following the decision of Government on 8 May 2020 to postpone the Leaving Certificate Examinations.
