Mattie McGrath
Ceist:454. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Education the way in which the junior certificate results data for the class of 2020 were gathered for grind schools. [26496/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 29 September 2020
Ceisteanna (454)
Freagraí scríofa
In the absence of the Leaving Certificate examinations in 2020 every effort has been made to make the system as fair as possible for as many students a possible. The statistical model used was blind to demographic characteristics either at the level of the student or the school. The standardisation process means that the same standard has been applied uniformly across all schools. This means anyone using the certificate to make a judgement between two people who hold this certificate, either now or in the future, can place equal value on the same grade in the same subject, without regard to where they went to school, as they would in a normal year.
Individual Junior Cycle results were not used to determine any individual's Calculated Grades. Rather, the Calculated Grades process took account of the overall Junior Cycle performance of the Leaving Certificate class of 2020 in each school and used this data to help in predicting the likely range of Leaving Certificate performance of that group. The fact that the vast majority of 2020 Leaving Certificate students would have sat the Junior Cycle examinations provides a good means of predicting the pattern of performance of these students at an aggregate level. The process was not applied at an individual student level and in the absence of Junior Cycle results for an individual student, that student will not be disadvantaged within the statistical process. Regardless of school type, the Junior Cycle data for 2020 Leaving Certificate students who had sat their examinations in another school were carried in to the school at which they were registered to sit the Leaving Certificate.