The decision has been taken by Government to postpone the Leaving Certificate examinations for 2020 and to offer students a system of Calculated Grades in its place.
All students will be given the option to receive a State Certificate of Calculated Grades in each subject that they have studied. The calculated grades model will have the same status as Leaving Certificate results awarded to students in previous years. The students will also have the opportunity to sit one or more subjects in the conventional Leaving Certificate examination, if they are unhappy with any of these results. No date is available for this yet, but suffice to say that any student who opts for the examination, will not receive results in time for college entry, for this year.
The earlier arrangement by the Department of Education and Skills (communicated in March) that full marks would be awarded in respect of the orals and music performance tests was predicated on the written examinations proceeding this summer. As the written examinations will not proceed, that arrangement will now not apply.
A system of Calculated Grades will be generated using a statistical model. It will combine estimates of a student’s expected performance with the school’s statistical profiles of achievement in a subject and level, in line with national performance standards over time. Essentially teachers will use their professional judgement and consult with their subject departments and Senior Management in estimating what result they expect your son would have attained had he/she sat the Leaving Certificate, based on many factors of his/her education with us here at Ardgillan College.
The role of the school is to provide marks and rankings that reflect:
An estimation of the percentage mark in each subject that each candidate is likely to have achieved and class ranking for each student in each subject
As Principal, I will then review the process applied in order to check on the fair treatment of students.
The school will then send the data to the Department of Education and Skills. This estimation will then be aligned with a number of national measurement guidelines in order to ensure fairness for all and to ensure students receive as fair a result as possible.
We are asking all students and parents/guardians to refrain from contacting our teachers to discuss, query or suggest any reference to subject percentages. We appreciate your cooperation with this request.
We know that our students have questions and need guidance at this time but there are a number of issues yet to be clarified by the DES. We have scheduled an online assembly with our 6th Year students at 12pm on Wednesday and we hope to be able to address their queries then. We have also been instructed by the DES that all tuition for 6th Year students is to end today May 11th.
Kind regards,
Nuala Ní Mhurchú
Principal
