The fog of standardisation and cohorts

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Nonamum
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:48 pm

The fog of standardisation and cohorts

Post by Nonamum »

Please can anyone explain how the gs papers are standardised according to age and cohort? Are some questions awarded more marks than others? All as clear as fog to me and am struggling to understand it all.
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: The fog of standardisation and cohorts

Post by capers123 »

Nonamum wrote:Please can anyone explain how the gs papers are standardised according to age and cohort? Are some questions awarded more marks than others? All as clear as fog to me and am struggling to understand it all.
Every question is 1 mark. The correct marks are added up to give the raw score for each paper.

The raw scores are distributed to all the schools ticked on the back of the Grammar Common Application Form.

Each school ticked will then take the raw scores for all the applicants and apply a standardisation to allow for the profile of those applying just to that school. This is so there is not a hugely excess number of passes or fails, I think. Each childs score will then be weighted to allow for the month they were born in, as at the age of 10 / 11, there is still some difference between the eldest & youngest in the year. This is so that children of equal ability would get an equal score irrespective of age. The weighted / standardised scores for each paper are then added together so they can be compared with the pass mark for the school. They're then ranked to give an order in which places can be offered come March.

And that's how it works. Simple.

Quite what formulae are used to obtain the standardisation, heaven only knows! I don't think the schools know as such - they feed the raw scores in one end and get a result out the other. The same methodology / formula is used by each school, but the different scores from different schools for the same child are because the cohort they're compared against (ie ticked the boxes for that school) are different.

If everyone ticked all the schools, then theoretically the same scores would come out for each school. Apart from Pates, where the intake is mixed gender...
Capers
Nonamum
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:48 pm

Re: The fog of standardisation and cohorts

Post by Nonamum »

Thanks, Capers
Do you happen to know if we can request to see the marked papers? DD is really struggling to understand (as am I) why her mark was not up to the Pate's level. (Just a few marks short we think). Whilst I would not want DD to see the paper, it would help make sense to me. DD has September birthday so this has possibly had far more impact than I realised.
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: The fog of standardisation and cohorts

Post by capers123 »

Nonamum wrote:Thanks, Capers
Do you happen to know if we can request to see the marked papers? DD is really struggling to understand (as am I) why her mark was not up to the Pate's level. (Just a few marks short we think). Whilst I would not want DD to see the paper, it would help make sense to me. DD has September birthday so this has possibly had far more impact than I realised.
You can request it, but they do not have to agree to that request, as exam papers are exempt from the Data Protection Act.

If you appeal, it may well be possible to see the paper, but possibly not until the day of the appeal.

My DD2 also has a September birthday. It sometimes seems unfair (especially to the child) that they have to score more to get the same standardised score as a July birthday child. However, don't forget that they would naturally be scoring more than a July child due to 10 months extra life / maturity.
Capers
Nonamum
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:48 pm

Re: The fog of standardisation and cohorts

Post by Nonamum »

Thanks Capers - v helpful.
nearlythere
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:24 pm

Re: The fog of standardisation and cohorts

Post by nearlythere »

What I don't understand is why a Pates score of 231 would equal a Tommies score of 227. Surely Pates would be lower due to higher standard of cohort?
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: The fog of standardisation and cohorts

Post by capers123 »

nearlythere wrote:What I don't understand is why a Pates score of 231 would equal a Tommies score of 227. Surely Pates would be lower due to higher standard of cohort?
The standardisation also includes details of how many passes they want.

As I understand it, Pates manage to standardise so that only 160 pupils achieve the pass mark. Hence the references to having to be in the top 160 to be offered a place. At least, that's what they told me the other day...
Capers
tigger
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 9:21 am
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: The fog of standardisation and cohorts

Post by tigger »

I understand that the 160th person at Pates gets a mark of 240 and everybody else's marks are calculated around this base score: hence the difference in standard scores between schools.
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