CAM Posted September 16, 2015 Posted September 16, 2015 So, new English and Maths use the numerical 1-9 system this year (I think?) and I am trying to work out how to incorporate fine grading. First off, does anyone know what 4Matrix uses as I will just use that to make our systems match. But I can't find any details. But what system are you all going to use? For letters I am going with C1, C2, C3 etc for reasons above but for numbers that would look odd and lead to people making mathematical mistakes (41, 42, 43 or 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 etc as they assume you just add everything up). I did think of using abc but then they look like sublevels (4c, 4b, 4a, etc). There doesn't seem to be anything from the recent AMPARK in SIMS either to support the new grading system (or I just haven't found it, not seen any Grade Sets).
CAM Posted September 16, 2015 Posted September 16, 2015 Response from 4Matrix on Twitter: We use + and - to signify strong or weak expected grade.
SouthCoastSaint Posted September 17, 2015 Posted September 17, 2015 We were going with H M L as our numerical fine grades. Forgot about asking 4Matrix though! - might have to consider changing. Sticking with GCSE grades for a few months with a very rough conversion to the fine 1-9 grades on marksheets and school reports so parents start to get a feel for it. (We use on track for grades for all years which are GCSE grades so will have to switch fairly soon).
gazskeltz Posted September 17, 2015 Posted September 17, 2015 Hi, 4Matrix will convert +/- to 1 and 3 internally when you import a spreadsheet. you won't have to convert. Not sure about any other naming conventions you may be considering. Regards Gary
CAM Posted September 17, 2015 Posted September 17, 2015 Thanks Gaz, was on my list of stuff to test today. Saved me a job.
CAM Posted October 5, 2015 Posted October 5, 2015 Update has come out for 4Matrix to add numerical grade support.
hschram Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 interesting discussion. I am working on a new gradeset that includes both KS3 and KS4. We have decided on a + and - system to reflect strong or weak grades but we have also created a scale below 1- to take over from KS3 grades (6a,6b,6c). My thinking is that we have got one single gradeset for y7-Y11 and the grades awarded below 1- are 0.95, 0.90, 0.85 and so on down to a 0. This is to make sure that the Year 7 students are not getting reports filled with U marks as current grades since they would not have covered enough of any subject to actually make a GCSE grade even at 1-. The same goes for end of year predictions. Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated and please shoot this down with something better by all means I will be looking forward to any debate, discussion or suggestions. Regards H
DeeGee Posted October 7, 2015 Posted October 7, 2015 We're doing something very similar. We wanted continuity throughout the school, so we've gone for 9+ to 0- mapped across to old National Curriculum sub-levels at the bottom end.
bobsmith Posted October 7, 2015 Posted October 7, 2015 @hschram A very similar plan here, but a different approach to the definition of the "current" grade. 9-1 used throughout, however it IS possible for a year 7 to get a high grade as work is assessed out of the maximum available performance at that point in time. e.g. by the end of year 7 it is possible to get a level 5 in French - so a student who aces everything and is an incredibly strong 5 could be awarded a 9 as a current grade. This way you can identify students who are not "on track" to get their target grade as early as year 7 - the caveat is that the accuracy of grades is lowest in year 7 and steadily improves as more content and skills are taught throughout the years. It removes a lot of the fiddly and often wildly wrong conversions from current grade to target. It also harks back to the time when some of us may have been awarded GCSE style grades at school in year 7 (or first year secondary as it was called back then ) - they provided a much easier benchmark for laypersons (i.e. parents). No system is perfect, but as long as your system is transparent enough for a non teacher to understand it'll do the job.
hschram Posted October 7, 2015 Posted October 7, 2015 @bobsmith thank you for your reply. It makes perfect sense what you are saying about a pupil that is fluent French speaker but have you got no cap on other subjects. I am just thinking that a pupil would only ace the MWL subjects because they were a native speaker. A year 7 maths student would not be able to get any higher grade wise than what they have actually been taught of the GCSE subject.
bobsmith Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 There will be an expectation of the highest level of maths taught in year 7 for the year group - this would be pegged for us at a grade 8/9. A student who masters all of this work is the kind of student who is likely to continue to get a 8 or 9 in their GCSEs. "Likely" is the important word here as many things may happen to prevent this happening, but all being well it is likely it will happen. What we are not doing is using the actual final GCSE grading criteria throughout a students career as that would largely be a nonsense. It's adjusted to reflect what has been taught at this point in their education.
ICTLady Posted October 9, 2015 Posted October 9, 2015 Have to say I'm really pleased with 4Matrix - had to wait a few days for it but it handles the numeric grades, and the fine grades that have come from FFT, like a dream. We're lucky as we have a Y9 entry, so we're moving to a three-year KS4 using 9-1 throughout.
tombry Posted October 9, 2015 Author Posted October 9, 2015 We use go4schools, which is nice in some instances, but as courses are tied to exams, and the new 0-9 exams haven't been set up yet, I've had to tie them to the old GCSE exams, and give them letter grades. I'm hoping by the time the year 9s choose/start their options (Jan/May) the exams have QAN codes I can attach to the courses, and the students can get actual number targets. I've tried suggesting to staff to use my sheet to report targets to students, but I doubt any will (at least the kids I mentor will know)
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