AQE Exam Results

sallyanny

PACENI wrote: »

Sallyannie
In the old 11-plus 25% were awarded A grades. Now I'm sure you can work out the percentage for the GL Assessment test but here's the computer's answer.
0.46153846153846153846153846153846.
Now I'm sure even you will agree that 25 and 46 are "massively different" The real question is why would you have suggested otherwise?

As I'm sure you know, you being an expert and all, 25% of ALL children in P7 were awarded grade A in the 11+, not 25% of children sitting the test. I'm sure 'even you' can see the difference this makes. And the real question is why you're persisting with posting on this thread when nobody seems to be interested in what you have to say.

Golden_Anemone

PACENI wrote: »

When were you appointed moderator for this board?

You've answered your own question PACENI - perhaps one of this years P7s could explain the term oxymoron to you!

This forum isn't moderated.

PACENI wrote: »

What is a neutral poster?

Do keep up! You introduced the term in your second to last post when you said: "Well it must appear interesting to the general "neutral" visitor to this site..." and went on to insinuate that the people who disagreed with you were in fact teachers with a selfish interest rather than "mere" parents.

JosieJoBelfast

The postings between PACE and others on this forum are becoming increasingly more angry and full of venom. I have actually found them quite difficult to read.

At the heart of this all right now are 13,700 (approx) 10 and 11 year olds – there is angst, confusion, distress and parents trying to reassure and support their children through the final stages of this transfer procedure.

I have had a look at the PACE website and there is some good stuff on there which I have found interesting and enlightening. HOWEVER, as someone who is the product of a grammar education and seek the same opportunities for my daughter, I have found the tone of PACE’s postings both condescending and rude. You have done little to endear me to support the cause and I suppose I should in theory be an easy ‘convert’ or ‘target’.

As an organisation representing Choice in Education, PACE should see that we are parents trying to exercise our choice in education. We choose along with our kids to put them through an academic test, which also means that we have chosen to try and secure them a place in grammar, we have then chosen our school preferences. The actual method of selection was not of our choosing and neither is the method of recording the scores / grades and of course the application of schools' respective admissions criteria.

I have found the tone scathing about our lack of knowledge of or lack of understanding of the various testing methods and I am happy to admit that I may not be as well informed as the PACE members. However this ‘chat’ has been a source of reassurance, support and guidance and whilst not all has been factually correct and much has been supposition, to just chat to others going through the same thing has clearly been beneficial for many.

Much fault lies with the politicians and the DENI and some with the AQE & PPTC - however right now this is the reality we are faced with and are dealing with it as best we can.

I feel from your posts that you are ‘mocking’ the decisions that we have made and about what you see as our indifference to the wider retention of academic selection debate. We represent ourselves and our kids and just like PACE are entitled to express these ideas and opinions.

This probably won’t ease or smooth the waters and doubt there will be many in this particular chat thread joining PACE, and I am sure that these parents will continue to be a cause of frustration to PACE but is how I feel.

Out of curiosity – how many parents is PACENI representing?

Oh and I am not a teacher masquerading on this board.

lisburn-dad

Josie Joe , fair comment , I was not trying to cause trouble just was getting angry at their tone. Your post is excellent and sums up what we are thinking. I am probably finished now with this thread but appreciate all the information and support myself and my wife have found , good luck to you all and am content in the knowledge that no matter what the kids have done their best and we are all very proud of them.:)

blfastboy

Clash of the dogmas. PACE want pure academic selection. Catriona wants none. Both are wrong. Choosing a school for your child never comes down to that straight choice and most schools reflected that in their admission criteria pre- and post- the change.

The teachers could tell you in the absence of ANY exam that there'll roughly be a top 1/3 of their class bound to prosper in a more academic 'grammar' setting and another 1/3 better suited to a more vocational 'comprehensive' setting. The middle 1/3 is the tricky part and the part that neither the 'no selection' and the 'pure selection' approach addresses : the late bloomers, all-rounders, the ones that had a bad day on the 11+.

PACE stick to the 'Darwinist' dogma and Catriona just washed her hands of it, which was pathetic. If she'd consulted the schools, a middle ground could probably have been found, but all she wanted was to ditch the tests.

Odd that no-one ever pointed out that there was already an alternative in use in Northern Ireland, and I've been through it and it gets good results. The Dickson Plan in Tandragee/Craigavon. Never considered as an option. Defers 'selection' to 14, but tricky to fit onto the existing system, I guess.

Ex-Spendaholic

PaceNI you are banging on about GL, 11 plus, politicians etc on this thread. That is not with this thread is about. It is about the parents whose children received AQE results and are concerned what they mean. Certainly as a parent who has been through the process my only concern now is that he gets a decent grammar school place, if that makes me a bad person I'll live with it. Quite frankly I'll not be worrying about the system again for another 4 years until my next child becomes part of it. That may seem selfish but lets be honest the only people who were worrying about this years shambles were the people who had kids going through it. Mention the words AQE, GL, Quintiles etc to someone who has not been part of the process and they won't have a clue what you are talking about.

kingston_2730

Tommy80 wrote: »

Based on the %s scoring A, B1, etc in the GL Assessment tests, here are the grade boundaries for the AQE tests:

A - 103
B1 - 99
B2 - 95
C1 - 91
C2 - 85 (this is only an estimation!)

How did you work this out and do you think it is accurate? Interestingly, this is similar to what I was told by the principle of my son's first choice grammar school. She told me that they had done their own calculations and that my son's mark of 102 was bordering on an A which is very different to the stats from AQE.

Pink.

Ex-Spendaholic wrote: »

PaceNI you are banging on about GL, 11 plus, politicians etc on this thread. That is not with this thread is about.

Hi Ex-Spendaholic,

I think you'll find that PaceNI won't be posting on this thread again.

Pink

Confused-dad_2

Pink-winged wrote: »

Hi Ex-Spendaholic,

I think you'll find that PaceNI won't be posting on this thread again.

Pink

Phew!! Now can we please get back to the more important issues of trying to guess if 95 is a B2 or C1 and what percentage of children who were in quintile 3 will get into their first choice schools.

Ex-Spendaholic

Confused Dad, your issue of 95 isn't what we are discussing here. What we really need to know is if my child's 104 is good enough. :rotfl:Thank God its half term or I would be going to visit other schools which weren't even in our original choice.

I'm now a bit concerned about one of my son's friends. She was here at the weekend and I asked what school she hoped to go to. She gave me the name of a secondary school. She got 95 and if she was my kid I would be listing all the grammars before the secondary. I'm a bit worried about her in case her parents aren't fully understanding of the situation (then again is anyone). I know that our primary will not guide them into applying for grammars so am wondering if the parents have just told her this so she doesn't end up disappointed or should I try to say something to them. I know its none of my business but this is a good kid and I would hate to see her sold short while others with lower marks sail into grammars. What would other people do?

I still want to know how many kids were in each quintiles. At the end of the day these quintile bands were drawn before the tests were taken so there is no way that 1400 kids above 113 magically landed in Q1 and so forth.