Q: How will the process of calculated grades work?

Detailed guidelines have now been given to schools on how calculated grades should be issued. It’s a four-step system.

First, teachers are asked to use their professional judgement to give each student an estimated grade and a class ranking in their subject.

These marks are then considered by other teachers in the school to see if the process has been correctly followed.

This is then reviewed by the school principal.

Once the school principal is satisfied that the process has been followed correctly, the data is then submitted to the Department of Education.

Q: Is it the same process for Leaving Cert Applied (LCA) and Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP)?

Calculated grades will be used for outstanding assessments for LCA students, including subjects, vocational specialisms, and outstanding tasks. Students will be provided with a calculated grade for the LCVP link modules.

Q: I am a student. What should I do next?

Importantly, students will be asked to opt in for calculated grades on an online system. From next week, students will be able to access this system on the gov.ie website and confirm their subject levels, or change to a lower level.

Q: What will teachers be basing their marks on?

Teachers are being asked to use their professional judgement to provide the best possible estimate of how each student is most likely to have performed in the examination if the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 virus had never happened.

They are being asked to base their decision of a wide range of evidence, including Christmas exams, assessments, summer exams, and, with some caution, mock exams.

However, teachers are also being asked to take into account the quality of each test, the level of difficulty, and the purpose the exam was designed to serve. “This helps give a picture of the quality of the performance that goes beyond the mark,” according to the Department of Education guidelines.

Teachers are also being asked to give students the “most likely” mark they would have received should the disruption not have happened. According to the Department of Education, it is important that this mark isn’t the one they hope the student might get, or the mark they think they have a reasonable chance of getting “on a good day”.

Teachers are being asked to give students an overall percentage mark.

The Department of Education expects most of these percentage marks to be given as whole numbers. However, teachers in some cases may use a decimal number between two percentage marks.

Q: What is a student’s class ranking?

Teachers are also being asked to assign class rankings to students. This is listing each of the students in each individual class group for a particular subject, in order of their estimated level of achievement.

According to the Department of Education, this is to help with the standardisation it will use at a later stage.

Teachers are being asked to base this class ranking on the estimated percentages assigned to students, with the student identified with the highest estimated marks entered as number one on the form, and so on.

When students have the same estimated grade, decimals may be used, to one decimal place. This is equivalent to marking out of 1,000 and converting back to a percentage mark.

Q: What happens if there is a potential conflict of interest in my school?

The guidelines state that if a teacher has a real or perceived conflict of interest with a student in their class they must declare this to the school principal.

Q: I want to study abroad — will my grades be accepted?

The Department of Education says other countries are being asked for as much flexibility as possible for our students. These contacts are continuing.

Q: Will marks or rank order change in the standardisation process?

A: The Department of Education says many estimated marks may change to some degree: “The rank ordering of students by the school in their class grouping will be retained in the process, so students will keep their position relative to each other.

“After this standardisation and all follow-on checks have been completed, the estimated mark supplied by the school is transformed into a calculated mark. We then use this to generate a calculated grade.”