Checking grades

The image below shows the pattern of grades for a Stage 5 course over a period of ten years. The size of the candidature has varied a little but the pattern of grades is relatively consistent. If there were any marked changes when the school entered its grades for this course the following year, some consideration should be given as to why this might be the case.

Some useful questions to ask are:

• Is the current pattern of grades what you expected?
• How does this compare to past grading patterns?
• What evidence is there to support the current grades?

The grade analysis feature, available in the Results Analysis Package, allows schools to view their historical patterns of grades in different ways. Percentages of grades allocated for a particular course can be displayed in different graphical formats, and a variety of data sets can be displayed on the same graph.

Data sets for the same course from different calendar years can be added to the one graph, similar to the data that is available in Schools Online. A variety of chart types can be selected to view the data in different formats. The grade analysis function allows schools to select only the calendar years to which they want to compare their current results. This is useful where the standards demonstrated in a particular course tend to vary from year to year. If a school had a grade history pattern like the one in the following graph but believed their 2013 and 2014 cohorts to be the most similar to their current cohort, the grade analysis function allows data sets for these two groups only to be viewed together so a comparison can more easily be made.

Data sets for different courses in the same calendar year can be added to the one graph. Schools may want to use this feature to compare the grades allocated to the same cohort of students for particular courses. If courses based on similar skills have very different patterns of grades for the same cohort, schools may want to consider what explanation there could be for such variation. If a school had the grade patterns shown in the following graph but expected similar results from the cohorts in these courses, they may want to review their allocation of grades C, D and E for these courses before they submit them to the NESA.

The grade analysis function can also be used to view the grades allocated to students from the same cohort for 100 and 200-hour courses. It would generally be expected that students completing a 200-hour course would have had more opportunity to demonstrate a higher level of achievement in relation to the course performance descriptors than students undertaking a 100-hour course.

After a school has entered A to E grades for a course, the Grade History function in Schools Online and in the Loading  can be used to compare this pattern of grades to the pattern of grades allocated in similar courses over time.

For example, a school can look at the pattern of grades allocated for Year 11 Biology and compare it to the pattern of grades allocated in Year 10 Science over time. In doing this, schools should take into account the number of students undertaking each course, the differences between the courses, and the quality of the candidature.

If a school’s Stage 5 cohort for Science had the pattern of grades illustrated in the graph but the pattern of grades for Year 11 Biology the following year was markedly different, the school could consider possible reasons for this.

Schools can view the pattern of past HSC performance of student from their school for a particular course to assist in confirming the Year 11 course grades. The Band History function in Schools Online and in the Loading  enables schools to view their history of HSC performance band results in graphical format, similar to the way grade histories are displayed.

Note that there is no direct correlation between HSC performance bands and Year 11 grades. However, general patterns over time provide information about the performance of students at the school, which could be used to help confirm that the proposed pattern of grades for the Year 11 course looks reasonable.

A function called Work with Student Groups is available in the Loading  to enable schools to place selected students in groups based on their own criteria. Schools can then use the Grade Analysis function to view past grades for the groups they have created.

For example, a teacher of Year 11 English Advanced may want to create a group containing the students from their Year 11 class and use the Grade Analysis function to view the grades that this group of students was allocated for English in Year 10. As this function allows a graph of only the grades allocated to the selected students to be displayed, it may be more useful than a comparison to grades for the whole Year 10 cohort. It also enables schools to view the grades allocated to their current Year 11 students who completed Year 10 at other schools.

The following graph shows the pattern of Year 10 English grades allocated to a group of students studying the Year 11 English Advanced course.

The same data can be displayed in a 2D stacked graph, which can more easily be compared to the graph that appears in Loading  when grades are entered.

For further information on using the Work with Student Groups function, refer to the PowerPoint in Loading .