To whom it may concern,
I wish, on behalf of the LC Students of 2020, to signal our deep concern at the very flawed process applied to the calculation of grades in German at Higher level for this school. The results we have received bear no relationship to the ability, past performance or calculated mark awarded to the students from this school. I wish to have answered to the following questions.
- How come some students awarded the same calculated mark can be given 2 entirely different grades where there is a deviation of 2 grade levels?
- How come students given a calculated mark mid-way through a grade range can be down-graded by one or in some cases 2 grade levels?
- How come mother tongue students were down-graded from a H1 to H2 or in some cases a H3?
- How come students in our school who completed the German language curricular stream and achieved a level C1 in the German Sprachdiplom exams (far more challenging than the LC) were awarded H2 or H3 contrary to the marks calculated by their teachers? These pupils have reached the language proficiency level to study at a German University. The European Language Framework level for Sprachdiplom 2 is B2/C1, for Leaving Certificate it is B1/B2. Please explain to me the fairness of an algorithm that can get things so utterly wrong.
- How have the Gaelscoileanna fared in Irish? Is the same mismatch evident?
We calculated 19 H1 marks. This is not an inflation of grades in German for our school. We were awarded 6 H1 grades.
- 9 pupils got a grade in line with their calculated mark.
- 24 Pupils were downgraded from their calculated mark by one grade level.
- 8 Pupils were down-graded by two grade levels.
I want this investigated as it cannot be justified in any context given the nature of the school curriculum, students’ performances in German language exams from Germany and the performance of the school in the Leaving Certificate German exams every year.
The students in St Kilian’s have been seriously disadvantaged because of a warped bias based on the outcry in the UK. Where is the justice here? How is this wrong to be righted? Guidelines given to teachers stated that the school’s past performance would be considered as part of the national standardisation. I challenge you to go back and use the past performance for students from this school in German to come up with a fair and equitable assessment of their grades in this subject. We will seek information on the statistics for downgrades in Irish from Gealscoileanna to compare and establish bias.
Yours sincerely,
Alice Lynch, Principal
