Ofqual will not commit to publishing the model it is using to moderate school-assessed GCSE and A-level grades before final results are released this summer.
Last week MPs on the Commons Education Select Committee called on the exams regulator to publish details of its standardisation model “immediately”.
But a spokesperson for Ofqual would only confirm that it would be “publishing details about the model in the coming weeks”.
When asked by Tes twice if this would be before exam results days, the regulator would not confirm this.
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The MPs want the model used to calculate grades this year published so it can be scrutinised and checked for any possible bias against groups of students.
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“Ofqual must be completely transparent about its standardisation model and publish the model immediately to allow time for scrutiny,” a report from the committee said last week.
After GCSE and A-level exams were cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak, Ofqual decided to award grades based on teacher assessment, a “rank order” of students in each school for each grade and subject, and historical school performance data.
The regulator has created a “standardisation model” to be used by exam boards to ensure grading consistency, which the education committee’s report says would “play a crucial role in ensuring fairness”, given the “potential risks of bias, inaccuracy and grade inflation”.
Today Robert Halfon MP, chair of the committee, told Tes: ”[Ofqual] need to reassure schools, parents and students, and to make certain that disadvantaged groups are not further disadvantaged by the grading system. Ofqual need to publish this as soon as possible.”
“Our report makes it very clear that this model should be fully transparent and open to scrutiny, and it just needs to be done now. But we don’t have power to force them, as a committee, but we will certainly be asking them questions about this in future sessions.
“We need to make sure there can be scrutiny to make sure disadvantaged groups are not left behind still further by the system, so we need to know this.”
