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A level standards over time, across boards and subjects

A level standards over time, across boards and subjects. Robert Coe, CEM, Durham University Workshop for Sixth Form Leaders Carmel College, 13 June 2012. Summary. There is substantial variation in grading severity (difficulty) across different A level subjects

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A level standards over time, across boards and subjects

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  1. A level standards over time, across boards and subjects Robert Coe, CEM, Durham University Workshop for Sixth Form Leaders Carmel College, 13 June 2012

  2. Summary • There is substantial variation in grading severity (difficulty) across different A level subjects • This variation has implications for accountability and selection • Variation across specifications (and boards) within the same subject appears to be much less • ‘Grade inflation’ at A level now seems widely acknowledged • It also still seems to be continuing

  3. A level subjects

  4. IB subjects

  5. A level specifications

  6. Computing a fair UCAS tariff

  7. 2008 Report for SCORE • Relative difficulty of examinations in different subjects • http://www.cemcentre.org/attachments/SCORE2008report.pdf • http://www.cemcentre.org/attachments/SCORE2008summary.pdf • Robert Coe, Jeff Searle, Patrick Barmby, Karen Jones, Steve Higgins

  8. Results: Different methods

  9. Key findings • Existing studies, and new analyses using different statistical methods, broadly agree on the relative severity • Differences between subjects are highly stable over time and consistent across subgroups • Candidates who take science subjects generally achieve lower grades in those subjects than comparable (or the same) candidates do in other subjects

  10. Policy options • Do nothing • Comparability within subjects (over time and across boards) is more important • Statistical methods are flawed • Universities (should) require specific subjects, not treat them as interchangeable • Make grades comparable across subjects • Transparent and fair • Some subjects would be too hard/easy for current entries • Adjust the tariff • Fair at the point of use

  11. A level ‘grade inflation’ over time

  12. Different methods

  13. Ability of A level candidates

  14. International evidence

  15. Michael Gove on A level standards “Researchers at Durham University have been particularly good at challenging the growth in grade performance. One piece of analysis from Durham concluded that between 1996 and 2007, the average grade achieved by GCSE candidates of the same ‘general ability’ rose by almost two thirds of a grade. And the rise, they argued, is particularly striking in some subjects: in 2007, pupils received a full grade higher in maths, and almost a grade higher in history and French, than pupils of the same ability when they sat the exams in 1996. Similar trends have been found at A level. Academics at Durham found that in 2007, A level candidates received results that were over two grades higher than pupils of comparable ability in 1988. And pupils who would have received a U in Maths A-Level – that’s a fail – in 1988 received a B or C in 2007.” Ofqual Standards Summit, 13 Oct 2011

  16. Ofqual on A level standards ‘GlenysStacey, the chief of the exams watchdog Ofqual, admitted that A-levels had been downgraded … She conceded that examiners were partly responsible for contributing to grade inflation: "If you look at the history, we have seen persistent grade inflation for these key qualifications for at least a decade," she said. "The grade inflation we have seen is virtually impossible to justify and it has done more than anything, in my view, to undermine confidence in the value of those qualifications.” This is a stark contrast with the Labour years when regulators and examination bodies maintained to the bitter end that there was no systematic evidence that standards had declined. Professor Robert Coe from the University of Durham was for years almost a lone voice. He compared A-level results over time with actual changes in achievement by using the International Test of Developed Abilities and found that attainment fell steadily over time.’ Guardian, 11 May 2012

  17. Summary • There is substantial variation in grading severity (difficulty) across different A level subjects • This variation has implications for accountability and selection • Variation across specifications (and boards) within the same subject appears to be much less • ‘Grade inflation’ at A level now seems widely acknowledged • It also still seems to be continuing Robert.Coe@cem.dur.ac.uk

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