Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 October 2020
113. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education when students will be notified if they are impacted by the two errors in the algorithm; and if students can now appeal same and request to see the way in which their grade was calculated. [28961/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a result of COVID-19, which prevented the State from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. The purpose of this process was to allow as many students as possible to progress to employment, further education and training, or higher education.
On 30 September, I made a statement that advising that two errors had been identified in the Calculated Grades process. These meant that incorrect grades were issued to some students when they received their results on 7 September.
All Leaving Certificate 2020 students received a text message on 30 September advising them to check www.gov.ie/leavingcert for information regarding the announcement that was made that day.
On discovering the errors, my Department engaged a specialist third party, Educational Testing Service (ETS), to review the coding
On 03 October, I announced that the independent review had been completed by US-based company Educational Testing Services (ETS). All students received another text message. This message advised them either:
that they were receiving at least one higher grade and needed to check the portal to view their results or,
that they were not impacted and their grades were unaffected.
All students who were receiving a higher grade also received an email advising them to log onto the Calculated Grades Student Portal to access their amended results.
Students who are impacted were able to log on to the Calculated Grades Student Portal from 6.00pm on 03 October to view their improved grades and print a new statement of provisional results which will replace their first statement.
Students whose grades were not affected would see no change to their Calculated Grades if they log onto the Calculated Grades Student Portal. These students may, however, have seen that they achieved a higher calculated mark in a particular subject(s), but that this increase did not result in an increased grade.
The appeals process will continue as normal following the announcements on 30 September and 03 October regarding errors found in the Calculated Grades model. This applies whether or not a student received an improved grade following the rectification of the errors. This is because the appeals process is a technical appeal, focussed on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data through the process.
The appeals process is a process review focussed on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data through the process. It is not possible to appeal the information (estimated percentage mark or rank order) provided by the school. Due to the nature of the Calculated Grades system the professional judgement of the school is outside of the appeals process. It should further be noted that the design of the statistical model and the application of the national standardisation process is also outside of the scope of the appeals process.
At the time of closing the appeal application process on Wednesday 16 September, some 12,300 students had appealed almost 33,700 grades.
Every effort will be made to process appeals as quickly as possible but it is not possible at this time to commit to a date for the issue of the appeal results. Students will be notified of this date as soon as possible.
