Off Topic Schools

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!

Plum

Well-Known Member
Apr 19, 2013
18,840
12,550
113
Oxford
Have Hull and surrounding schools gone back this week? Anyone on here know how it's going? Many absentees?
 
Slightly off topic - but schooling related...
Does anyone on here know of a decent article that defines & explains accurately the "problem" with the "algorithm" that has created all this flack/backlash recently ? It (to me ) seems the mainstream media don't have a good handle on the issue !

Note: Please stay away from political commentary that may break the forum rules.
 
Slightly off topic - but schooling related...
Does anyone on here know of a decent article that defines & explains accurately the "problem" with the "algorithm" that has created all this flack/backlash recently ? It (to me ) seems the mainstream media don't have a good handle on the issue !

Note: Please stay away from political commentary that may break the forum rules.
If you've got the stomach this might help...

https://assets.publishing.service.g...fications_in_summer_2020_-_interim_report.pdf
 
  • Like
Reactions: tigerscanada
That explains how it works, and it works how they were asked to make it work (ie no grade inflation), but doesn’t really explain the problems which caused the Govt U Turn.
Ignoring that the U Turn was undoubtedly impacted by public perception (because the public are, famously, also voters) the main problem was that the system is inherently discriminatory in the first place and therefore when you try to write an algorithm to replace what the system usually ends up with as an outcome you’ll end up writing a discriminatory algorithm.
This article is a good one, and has useful links.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/20/1007502/uk-exam-algorithm-cant-fix-broken-system/
One quick anecdote to explain why is a friends child who was assessed as being level 7 (don’t ask me to explain levels though...they are way beyond my understanding!) took mocks and got level 8.(a good result apparently). However more children at that school did well in mocks, which are independently assessed, than usual and so the algorithm decided they were just above middle in their school, so gave a result which put them just above middle in previous years results...so they got given a 5 instead!
 
That explains how it works, and it works how they were asked to make it work (ie no grade inflation), but doesn’t really explain the problems which caused the Govt U Turn.
Ignoring that the U Turn was undoubtedly impacted by public perception (because the public are, famously, also voters) the main problem was that the system is inherently discriminatory in the first place and therefore when you try to write an algorithm to replace what the system usually ends up with as an outcome you’ll end up writing a discriminatory algorithm.
This article is a good one, and has useful links.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/20/1007502/uk-exam-algorithm-cant-fix-broken-system/
One quick anecdote to explain why is a friends child who was assessed as being level 7 (don’t ask me to explain levels though...they are way beyond my understanding!) took mocks and got level 8.(a good result apparently). However more children at that school did well in mocks, which are independently assessed, than usual and so the algorithm decided they were just above middle in their school, so gave a result which put them just above middle in previous years results...so they got given a 5 instead!

That sounds something like the system I heard they use in the USA. A bright kid from Europe went to the USA half way through schooling, all the other kids were pissed off because her higher grades pushed them down. Far too complicated for me to work out and understand why. Should add that they also reduced her grade too.
 
Have Hull and surrounding schools gone back this week? Anyone on here know how it's going? Many absentees?
We are one of the three councils that return next week.

Personally, our kids are back Wednesday as we have two training days beforehand.

Lots of secondary schools are doing staggered starts across several days so we won’t really see the full traffic impact until the week after.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Howden Tigress
Tomorrow the remaining primary schools will be back and many secondary schools will have their new Year 7s in.

Traffic is getting worse day-by-day.