The International Baccalaureate (IB) is addressing the long-running controversy over the calculated grades it gave students this summer by revising some results.

The original Diploma and Career-related programme grades led many to complain about the “algorithm” used to calculate results following the cancellation of summer exams.

Now in response to concerns and review requests raised by schools after results day in early July, the IB organisation has decided to make adjustments to awarded grades.

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Out of the 3,020 schools receiving results in the May 2020 session, around 700 schools submitted a review request on behalf of their students, it said in a statement.

After the cancellation of exams on account of the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s results were originally based on several components: school-marked coursework that was submitted and remarked by IB examiners, teachers’ predicted grades and schools’ historical data.

Now the organisation has decided that students’ moderated coursework (internal assessment) grades will become a new final grade, when a student’s teacher predicted grade is just one grade away from the coursework grade. 

But it has guaranteed that no student will be downgraded as a result of the change.

The IB statement reads: “The award of the revised final grade is based on these two data points of internal assessment and predicted grades to ensure the validity and fairness of the final grades.”

As an example, a student whose predicted grade was 6, coursework grade 5 and awarded result 4 will now be awarded a 5.

David James, deputy head of Bryanston School, a UK independent school, said that while this is a start, there were some anomalies and this wouldn’t be the end of the story for the many schools which have complained about the 2020 IB results.

He said: “Some students will benefit from these changes, and will see their grades move closer to what their schools feel they ought to have been awarded. 

“I’m pleased to see that they are protecting grades from going down. But it is a complicated adjustment, and there are worrying anomalies. 

“For example, if an internal assessment is more than one above a predicted grade then that grade doesn’t change. Why not? That doesn’t seem fair, and schools should be able to challenge this.  Much as the IB would like it to be, I don’t think this is the end of the unhappiness schools have about this set of results.”

He added: “It’s a start, and a recognition that the IB did not get things right - or fair - with the first set of grades. We still have major concerns about the standard of marking, and we feel that should be urgently addressed, but very few re-marks have been returned so far, which suggests they’re struggling with the volume of requests.”

As the final awarded grade will be ignored in favour of coursework grades for those students who fall within the brackets of this amendment but not for others, the move will still leave the IB potentially facing new appeals.

Mr James said: “I think they have to be prepared for more appeals that come out of this latest attempt to address major inconsistencies in their original assessments.”