No grade shakes...
END TO LEAVING CERT ‘INFLATION’
LEAVING Cert grade inflation will be unwound in a “tapered” manner over the coming years to return to “normality”, Education Minister Norma Foley has announced.
Following the resumption of State Examinations following the Covid-19 pandemic, grades were artificially inflated by seven per cent.
This was done by a “postmarking adjustment” which was added to grades after the fact to keep average results in line with other years.
Minister Foley said that this arrangement will be kept in place for exams in 2024 and will then be tapered downwards from 2025 when exams will be inflated by a maximum of 5.5 per cent.
“Once a student goes in and takes their exam, there is, after the Leaving Certificate, then there is what’s called a post-marking adjustment.”
Exam
Minister Foley told RTE’s Today with Claire Byrne: “Their achievement, whatever they achieved in the exam, is adjusted upwards by seven per cent.
“We’re saying now that we will hit around 5.5 per cent.
“To get the accurate reflection of the student, we need to return to a situation where you won’t have that post-marking adjustment.”
Ms Foley said she had given a “commitment” that the grade profile would remain in place as the Covid-19 measures were unwound.
However, she said that as this year’s Leaving Cert class are the final group who have not sat the Junior Cert or any other State exams, it is time to taper off the grade inflation.
She added: “We’re saying in 2025, it will hit around 5.5 per cent. That’s 1.5 per cent in the difference. That’s the maximum.
“It might be actually lower than that.”