Posted on 01/16/2005 12:51:33 PM PST by Pikamax
B grade for pupils who get 83pc wrong By Julie Henry, Education Correspondent (Filed: 16/01/2005)
Pupils have been awarded a B grade in a maths GCSE exam despite scoring only 17 per cent, The Telegraph can reveal.
The pass marks for the new exam, which was taken last summer by 7,500 children from 65 schools and is due to be introduced nationwide next year, were an all-time low.
Pupils sitting GCSE maths last year had to achieve about 40 per cent to get a B grade. But with the new exam, designed by the Cambridge-based exam board OCR, those who got as little as 17 per cent were given a B, while those scoring 45 per cent were awarded an A.
The move, revealed just days after Government ministers hailed "record" achievements at GCSE, was condemned yesterday by examiners and teachers, who said it would invite ridicule.
Roger Porkess, a mathematician who designs syllabuses, said: "It really is the most dreadful mess. The new GCSE has replaced one problem with a whole new set of other problems." Kevin Evans, a maths teacher, said: "I have picked up concerns from teachers that people moving on to A-level who have got a grade B have very weak knowledge."
The new exam has been designed to replace the "three-tier" GCSE, where teenagers sit a higher, intermediate or foundation paper depending on their ability. Pupils taking the lowest paper cannot achieve the all-important grade C.
Candidates will instead take a "two-tier" GCSE. The more difficult paper allows pupils to get A* to B grades, while a less difficult one covers grades C and D.
Despite the concerns, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the examinations watchdog, said yesterday that it would press ahead with its introduction nationwide.
A QCA spokesman said: "A number of technical issues were raised by the pilot, such as the distribution of marks for each grade on the higher tier paper, which are being addressed. Ministers are now considering how the pilot should be taken forward and an announcement will be made soon."
"Pupils taking the lowest paper cannot achieve the all-important grade C."
I think we see the genesis of the problem here...
Well, I suppose it's nice to see that this isn't just a U. S. trend......
When I was in school, you had to do better than 65% correct to avoid an "F". This new grading scale is ridiculous. You can get 17% right on most reasonable tests without showing up for a day of class.
The leftist goal is to dumb down the west to the level of the third world.
The disaster of liberalism in education is not geography-sensitive. Outcome-based education, the bane of our children, continues to ravage the education of the next generations. Feeling good, and self-image, are far more important that being able to add 2+2 and get 4.
This is really deceptive. I can design an exam that ensures that post docs get a 30. What is the exam really trying to prove? What exam score demonstrates what proficiency or competency?
If these are multiple choice questions with 5 answers, a chimp with a pencil should theoretically get 20% correct!
I could get 20 o/o right now by printing my name and date correctly on the paper?
And getting an F was a source of shame, not to mention punishment in the home when the parents learn of the low grade.
I guess I forgot my sarcasm tag.
You know, I don't know how to sit a paper either.
There is no sarcasm in my post, I'm series.
Sorry, I misunderstood.
Exactly. Now parents go to the school administration and scream at them. The bad grade just has to be due to the teacher not liking the student (in their view). Pathetic.
I've been hearing lately that history textbooks barely mention the founding fathers or the Constitution but they have chapters on what a great guy Bubba Klinton is and what an awful place America was during the Reagan Administration. We know better but the school system is feeding this garbage to the kids very successfully.
We do not tolerate less than A's here. If there is slippage, there is more studying.
I've been hearing lately that history textbooks barely mention the founding fathers or the Constitution but they have chapters on what a great guy Bubba Klinton is and what an awful place America was during the Reagan Administration. We know better but the school system is feeding this garbage to the kids very successfully.
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This is why I would NEVER put a child in the leftist indoctrination schools which your example clearly shows, have rewritten history. Thank God my two daughters got through the system, with their minds in tact and not mislead, but it took a tremendous effort on the part of their parents to correct the crap the left was trying to feed them. It continues to astound me how complacent the majority of parents are about what government schools have turned into -- and hold schools accountable for not only their pathetic education performance, but the liberal/leftist bias and crap they fill the classrooms with.
Cleaning up the schools will not happen until parents insist on it, and make it happen.
Good for you! You wouldn't believe how stupid kids are now. I don't know if it's the schools fault, the parents fault, or both. I've been taking classes at night. My last class was Business Calculations. Most of us are working older adults but we had about five 18-20 somethings in the class. They always sat on the back row near the door. They would stay approximately 30 to 45 minutes out of a three hour class and then slip out. The last day of class we had finals. Four actually took the test. One came in and asked the instructor if he would pass if he skipped the final. Our instructor told him "yes but barely" so he left without taking it. They just don't care. The parents only care if they pass, not what they make. If Mom and Dad are paying, all the kids care about is passing.
BTW, I'm 50, was the oldest in the class, and passed the class with a 98.5. I had parents like you. :-) Stick with it. They might appreciate you someday.
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