Screwed Up Ranks (1 Viewer)

[Ashlee4988]

Hey, I have a question about assessments, im not sure what i should do. Ok heres the situation. Last year when we started the hsc cource in september, we had an practical assessment task in biology. I came 2nd with 84%, my friend phil came 1st with 85%, and another girl, Jane, came 4th with 82%. Unbeknownst to the rest of the class, Jane submitted a formal complaint and had her assessment remarked and upgraded to 94%. No-one knew about this until we got our reports this week.
Such a significant upgrade (from 82% to 94%) suggests to me that her assessment was marked much more leniently the second time, it has changed the ranks of a few people in our class and it doesnt seem fair (it seems that there have been double standards between when the classes assessments were marked and when Janes assessment was marked a second time.)

I have tried to talk to my teacher about it, but he refuses to and says he is not allowed to discuss it. In the midcourse exam i gained 92% (came first) while Jane got 56% and came third. It seems to me that the assessments havnt achieved their purpose (ie ranked the class accurately) and as well as this they have possibly been marked inconsistantly.
Could this affect my or other class members UAI's, and what should i do?

 

[spontenous]

umm!! well i dun think it shuld have ne problems wif ur uai!! coz with ur uai u r gettin compared to the state!! but if u r consistant in like high 80ies and 90ies thn u will be fyn!! even tho yes it is unfair abt wht happened wif u and the other girl!! but u shuld b fyn!! i think..

 

[cem]

I think the fact that your teacher didn't mention this openly to all of you is despicable.

I know that I have had to change marks upwards when a student has come to me and asked me to review a question. If I have had to do that I have gone to the rest of the class and explained why the change was made and I have never had a problem.

As my school requires all students to sign off on the final marks for all assessment marks any change has to be notified to all students.

I would contact the BOS and ask for their advice on your rights in this situation if you can't get a satisfactory answer from your teacher, which apparently you aren't getting, or from a senior member of staff at the school.

 

[helper]

Trouble is, you don't know what the appeal was based on. It could have been on a personal misadventure and nothing to do with the marking. In this case the teacher wouldn't be able to reveal why.

Formal complaint isn't a normal term used. Was this used by the teacher or is that the term students are using?

 

[cem]

Trouble is, you don't know what the appeal was based on. It could have been on a personal misadventure and nothing to do with the marking. In this case the teacher wouldn't be able to reveal why.

Formal complaint isn't a normal term used. Was this used by the teacher or is that the term students are using?

Once the teacher has issued the marks and the other students are aware of their marks and ranks any change must be notified to the students and a reason given. It is permissible for the teacher to say - student a's result has been changed due to a 'personal misadventure' without going into details but that should have happened before the results were issued e.g. medical certificates, deaths in the family, accidents etc are to be notified at the time of the assessment not after the marks have been returned. Changing marks after the event should only be happening if there was an error in the marking in the first place and that can be explained to the rest of the candidature.

 

[helper]

Read the ACE manual
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/manuals/pdf_doc/ace_manual.pdf

Section 11.
The only people required to be notified are the Parent and Student.


Or a summary of requirements
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/newhsc_assessment.html#requirements


While I agree what you are saying is the procedure that most schools use, it is not what is detailed by the Board, who say rankings only have to be released at the end of assessment, as long as meaningful feedback is provided to students.

It is also what I would consider to be good policy but as I said is not mandatory.