AQE Exam Results

beccasmum

Thanks for the back up ex-spendaholic, although I did read one post implying that a child could gain 15 marks just by being a Spring birthday, dear knows where that came from? I think this whole age thing is a witch hunt against young children who just happen to have done well. I suspect the age adjustment is no different this year than any other year but because it shows the wide range of children which in the past all were grouped in one grade people don't like it as it puts children in rank order and so distinguishes one from the other, which at the end of the day is fairer. This whole transfer procedure is just like a competion for places and schools are better knowing which child achieved what when it comes to over-subscription.

kingston_2730

Ex-Spendaholic wrote: »

The irony of the situation is actually right in front of me now. My son has 2 friends round. I will point out at this stage that none of the kids are in the slightest bit worried about scores, schools etc. As far as they are concerned it is all done and dusted. :eek: Here is the scenario.

Son March birthday 104
Friend 1 July birthday 103
Friend 2 August birthday 103

All 3 were getting top scores in the practice papers and are very bright.

My son is applying to Grosvenor, Methody, Wellington. Friend 1 is applying to Wellington, Grosvenor, Campbell. Friend 2 is applying to Grosvenor, Wellington, Methody. So if my son and friend 2 get to Grosvenor all well and good they do not effect friend 1 in anyway. However if my son is rejected by both Grosvenor and Methody he then takes precedence over friend 1 in the Wellington list. If friend 1 is rejected from Wellington then he has no chance in Grosvenor either as they will have already rejected my son and friend 2 in the first applications.

It all seems really unfair.

It does seem very harsh but I think its fairer to go in rank order than to bring other factors in ie.free school meals, parent that used to go to school etc...

Stanjnr

I did not intend anyone to get upset about me mentioning age standardisation, all children have had a stressful time through this process and they have all done really well.

I certainly don't have these conversations with my son or any other child, they've got their scores and we are moving forward with what we've been given.

Most of you in here are worrying about scores of 100+, try putting yourself in the shoes of a parent whose child did well in practice papers in school and was devastated when their score on the day meant we didn't have to worry about 28 May as the score said don't even bother!

My concern is based on the response I got from AQE, if they don't understand it themselves how do they know it is accurate. And as AKA3 has stated what do they use for the norm with this being new!! All I wanted was to try to work out my son's raw score to see how it compared to his school tests, the response I got started me thinking!

It would be awful to find out that they had got it wrong when it's too late, but we'd probably never be told!

Ex-Spendaholic

Stanjnr wrote: »

It would be awful to find out that they had got it wrong when it's too late, but we'd probably never be told!

Thats the thing. AQE are regulated by no-one. If by chance they have made a serious !!!!-up somewhere along the way then there is no-one to hold them accountable. Equally as they are not prepared to release any information then we are unable to try to establish whether there are any problems within the system.

Stanjnr, have you thought about going down the remark procedure?

AKA3

beccasmum wrote: »

Why are so many people trying to knock younger kids who did well in the test? My daughter is a spring birthday and she did do well but to be honest she has sat at the top of her class for the last 3 years and her principle predicted an A even before the tests. If I thought another child told her she only got a good result because of her age, after hearing that from their parents I would not be impressed. I think this line of thought needs to be investigated through the proper channels before parents start blaming the marking system for poor results. Sorry if I sound over protective but these are children we are talking about.

Nobody should be questioning the issue of age adjustment and I am certainly not, my point in an earlier posting is whether this has been done in a valid way on this occasion. Raw scores, percentile ranking and the issue of where the norm references came from would resolve this issue and other areas of uncertainty.
Age adjustment is valid so that children are only compared against others of their own age. The magnitude of the adjustment isn't known in AQE (compared to GL) and as in any statistical adjustment,which will have been applied to all entrants, the validity needs to be assessed. I agree that this needs to be addressed through appropriate channels. The explanation offered by AQE is inadequate, I quote an earlier posting where AQE reportedly said that the !!! is "complex and accurate" .

I hope that our P6 children, parents and teachers will not have the uncertainty that so many are experiencing. I suspect this maybe because we will be dealing with grades again. I would support this as I suspect that all of those in centiles 1&2 are the old A grades and I feel for the child in each school who will recall being the lowest scorer rather than recalling the D grade.

sniffy_2

Ex-Spendaholic wrote: »

Thats the thing. AQE are regulated by no-one. If by chance they have made a serious !!!!-up somewhere along the way then there is no-one to hold them accountable. Equally as they are not prepared to release any information then we are unable to try to establish whether there are any problems within the system.

Stanjnr, have you thought about going down the remark procedure?

We all unfortunately knew when we were putting our children through these tests that they were unregulated.

kingston_2730

Does anyone have the stats AQE published re quintiles ie.first quintile 113+ etc, I can't seem to find mine?

kingston_2730

ooops found them, never mind!

JosieJoBelfast

Age Standardisation

All this talk was freaking me out, as I couldn't get my head round it all. Found lots of 'gumpf' I couldn't understand but on reading this twice, I think I just about understand the principle.

http://www.11plusswot.co.uk/testscores.aspx

Obviously we don't know how or what method AQE used - but after this chat it has at least enabled me to be slightly clearer on how this usually works.... hope it helps others. PLEASE NOTE this is an illustrative guide to enable some small measure of understanding of age standardisation that helped me..no idea what AQE did!

sniffy_2

newtownabbey_mum wrote: »

hi, i havent put any secondary school down. has anyone else done this?? headmaster didnt seem to think it was neccessary

We didnt put down secondary school choice as headmaster said 99.9% son would get into BRA with score of 112. Local secondary Ballyclare only taking 1st choice pupils. Headmaster there totally opposed to academic selection. It is always oversubscribed.