5This idea came out of our last Edexcel network meeting at Alcester whereby we discussed the impossible task of allocating grades given that none of the exam boards are able to give the slightest guidance. After a discussion we agreed that it would be useful to share anonymous student marks for the secure mocks to enable to each school to “slice and dice” the data to come up with their own grade boundaries using their interpretation of how grades will be awarded next Summer. The idea being, that we’d all then benefit from access to a larger data set.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about it and many people I’ve spoken to have said they’d like to get involved too and during these discussions it seems that there is an appetite for sharing the actual grade boundaries that people are using. It has however, led me to the issue of confidentiality and access to the information by “Joe Public” which is why (and I am going to regret the number of emails this will generate but it has to be done!) I have set up a google drive in which I have put a spreadsheet called “Boundaries & Mock Results” with a two-fold intention: 

1

  • To collate the grade boundaries people are using so as to provide a benchmark. They are not being collated with any promises as to their validity but to provide you with a ‘sort of’ sanity check for you to use against any boundaries that you are using within your own school.

3

  • To collate anonymised mock results to enable us all to do our own analysis using a larger data set. As I have included a column for us to add in the specific exam board which should allow each of us to extract the data in relation to the papers we have given our own students and slice and dice it according to your own interpretation of how the grades will be awarded in June 2017

4If you want to get invited to the drive please email me: mel@justmaths.co.uk and I will aim to get you added within a couple of hours but do remember I also teach full-time, so in the week this may take longer! All I would ask is that you email me from your school email so I know that you are a bona fide teacher!

Please do get involved … this will only be as successful as we want to make it!