Pupils of 16 to be ranked on ‘O-level’ scores with graphs comparing scores of all students

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Pupils of 16 to be ranked on ‘O-level’ scores with graphs comparing scores of all students

July 7th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

A similar distribution marking system is used by Cambridge Pre-U qualification
The plan forms part of an overhaul of the exams system for 16-year-olds

By
Sarah Harris

PUBLISHED:

19:22 EST, 6 July 2012

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UPDATED:

19:29 EST, 6 July 2012

Teenagers could be given national rankings according to their scores in the new ‘O-levels’ being introduced by the Government, it emerged yesterday.

Certificates for the replacements for GCSEs in the core subjects of English, maths and science would go beyond a simple grade.

They are likely to include the student’s overall position as well as a graph showing the overall distribution of scores.

The proposed overhaul of the exams system for 16-year-olds is to halt the ¿dumbing down¿ of exam passes

A similar system already operates for the Cambridge Pre-U qualification, where students’ certificates also provide a distribution of overall marks.

Last October, Education Secretary Michael Gove suggested the controversial idea for A-level students, but unions claim ranking pupils on exam results could ‘brand’ them for life.

The plan, revealed in the Times Educational Supplement, forms part of an overhaul of the exams system for 16-year-olds.

Mr Gove is already proposing to allow only one board to design an exam in English, maths and science to halt the ‘dumbing down’ of exam passes.

A government source said yesterday: ‘No decision has been made yet but if you look at the Pre-U, they print on the back of the certificate the distribution of all the marks so if you do maths Pre-U, you see a distribution curve of how everyone scored.

‘What we are thinking about is, if we move to a single exam board, then there’s no reason why you couldn’t do that with new exams at 16.

Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education, is proposing a raft of changes to assessments for 16-year-olds to halt the trend of easier exams

‘At the moment, all you get is a grade score. You don’t actually know how you scored specifically in different papers and how that compares with everyone else.’

Mr Gove wants exam boards to compete for the chance to produce the new English, maths and science papers.

Ministers plan to change the marking system so the new ‘O-levels’ will not be norm-referenced, meaning that top grades would not be limited to a fixed proportion of pupils.

The current A to G grading system for English, maths and science is also set to be scrapped and replaced with a numerical system such as 1 to 5.

‘Otherwise it will be too confusing with all the As and Bs and (people asking) did you get an A before the change or after the change?,’ said the source.

The proposals come just days after a inquiry by a committee of MPs found that exam standards have dropped because boards are competing to offer the easier papers.

Nansi Ellis, of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said Mr Gove needed to ask himself whether there was any evidence that any proposed changes, ‘will benefit learning and the acquisition and development of skills’.