APPENDIX 4
Letter from Sir William Stubbs to Ms Kathleen
Tattersall, Director-General, AQA (QCA 27)
Thank you for your letter of 22 March.
I do appreciate that the awarding bodies and
regulatory authorities all worked hard to ensure that preparations
for the awards of the new AS and A levels have been as thorough
as possible. I am concerned that the public have confidence in
the new A levels. That is why we commissioned the review by Eva
Baker and her colleagues. The independent panel's report mentions
the tendency of grade percentages being rounded up if, when attempting
to maintain comparability between two years, there is an upward
rather than downward movement in the face of uncertainty.
I am conscious of the importance of judgements
about candidates' actual performances. However, in this summer's
A level awards, the change to new specifications means that awarders
have less evidence to assist them than in normal circumstances.
In this situation, I do expect last year's A level results to
provide a very strong guide to this year's outcomes.
I am clear that grades for this summer's A level
candidates can only be determined using a combination of professional
judgement and statistical evidence. To ignore eiehter of these
dimensions and constrain awards would be contrary to the Code
of Practice, risk serious disadvantages to candidates, and ought
to be the cause of serious concern for the accountable officers
of awarding bodies.
19 April 2002
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