Leaving Certificate 2020: Your questions answered - October 2020

Last updated 3 October 2020

The Department’s press statement of 3 October regarding Calculated Grades is available to read here. The report commissioned from Education Testing Services (ETS) is available here.

The Minister in releasing this statement reiterated her regret to students for the errors caused in the Calculated Grades process.

The Department’s press statement regarding the Minister’s earlier announcement on 30 September is available to read here.

Revised results for students receiving higher Calculated Grades are available from 6.00pm on 3 October on the Calculated Grades Student Portal

6,100 Leaving Certificate students receiving higher Calculated Grades will receive a text message and email confirming this and advising them to log on to the Calculated Grades Student Portal from 6.00pm on 3 October to view their new results.

You can access the Calculated Grades Student Portal here.

Impacted students will be able to print a new copy of their provisional results, replacing the one they received on 7 September.

Students whose grades are not impacted will also receive a text message to this effect. Their grades will remain unchanged. No student will receive a lower grade as a result of this process.

Why some students are receiving improved Calculated Grades results

On 30 September, the Department of Education and Skills found two errors in the coding used in the Leaving Certificate 2020 Calculated Grades process. These meant that incorrect grades were issued to some students when they received their results on 7 September.

On discovery of these errors, the Department contracted an independent third party, US-based Education Testing Services (ETS), to undertake an independent expert opinion on the coding. This report was received on 3 October. The report identified two issues, the first an error relating to how the code handled cases where students did not sit all three core subjects (Irish, English and Maths) at Junior Cycle level. The second issue concerned how the algorithm used in standardisation process treated students’ marks at the extreme ends of the marks scale. ETS confirmed, however, that this second issue does not have any meaningful impact on results.

The three errors identified have now been corrected and the full set of student data has been re-run in the corrected model.

The results of the correction mean that some students are now receiving higher Calculated Grades in one or more subjects than the grades they received on 7 September.

As a result of this:

• 5,408 students will receive a higher grade, by one grade band, in one subject
• 621 students will receive a higher grade, by one grade band, in two subjects
• 71 students will receive a higher grade, by one grade band, in three or more subjects

In addition to the students who received a lower grade than they should have in this year’s Leaving Certificate, some students received a higher grade.

However, they will not be affected in any way. Their grades stand.

Those marked down as a result of the errors have had their proper grade restored.

How students will know if they are impacted

Students receiving higher Calculated Grades will receive a text message and email confirming this and advising them to log on to the Calculated Grades Student Portal from 6.00pm on 3 October to view their new results, where they will also be able to print a new statement of results which will replace their first statement. Students whose grades are not impacted will also receive a text message to this effect. Their grades will remain unchanged. They will see no change to their Calculated Grades if they log onto the portal. No student will receive a lower grade as a result of this process.

No student has received a downgrade on 3 October from the results they received on 7 September

In addition to the students who received a lower grade than they should have in this year’s Leaving Certificate Certificate as a result of the errors, some students received a higher grade.

These students will not be affected in any way. Their grades stand. Students will only receive improved grades as a result of these errors.

The CAO will assess who might be eligible for a revised CAO offer

The Department has sent a corrected file of results to the CAO, who will assess this to establish who is eligible for a new CAO offer.

Any student who would have been entitled to a different offer in previous CAO rounds if they received the correct grade on 7 September will receive this offer, or a deferred offer, as soon as practicable after the updating of results.

The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science will work with the CAO and the higher education institutions to see how these students can be facilitated to commence the course that they would, in other circumstances, have been offered in an earlier round.

The errors that were found

On 30 September, the Department of Education and Skills announced that two errors had been identified in the Leaving Certificate 2020 Calculated Grades process.

The Department then contracted Educational Testing Services (ETS), to conduct a review of the code for the system of Calculated Grades. In their review, ETS raised two issued, including a third error which they had identified regarding the code.

All three errors concerned how the coding for the system of Calculated Grades drew in and handled Junior Cycle data.

The first error was in a single line of code programmed by the Department’s external consultant, Polymetrika International Inc. That error affected the way in which students’ Junior Cycle results were included in the national standardisation process.

It was intended that students’ Junior Cycle results in Irish, English and Maths would be included in the data used by the national standardisation process, together with their best two other subjects. These data were to be considered at an aggregated class level.

The error meant that students’ results in Irish, English and Maths were put together with their weakest two other subjects for determining the overall performance of their class.

The second error related to the inclusion of candidates’ Junior Cycle results in the subject Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) as part of the data used in the national standardisation process. This was incorrect, as in line with the design of the Calculated Grades process, this subject should not have been included in the data used by the model.

The third error, identified by ETS, relates to where students did not sit all three core subjects (Irish, English and Maths) at Junior Cycle level. In those cases, the system was meant to use the average national Junior Cycle score of the group of students who took their Leaving Certificate in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Instead, it chose the student’s next best subject for inclusion in the group computation.

These three errors have now been corrected and the full set of student data has been re-run in the corrected model.

Student’s individual Junior Cycle results were not used to determine their Calculated Grades

Your Junior Cycle exam results, or whether you sat the Junior Cycle examinations at all, were not used to determine your own specific Calculated Grades. Instead, the overall, or aggregate, Junior Cycle results for class groupings were used, as this aggregate data provides a good means of determining the performance of a class group in the Leaving Certificate.

The Department made further checks before issuing revised Calculated Grades results

As well as review activity undertaken by the Department and by Polymetrika, the Department contracted ETS, Educational Testing Service, a US-based non-profit organisation which specialises in educational measurement, to independently review the coding for the Calculated Grades model.

ETS has concluded its review and submitted its report to the Department on 3 October.

The ETS report has been published on the Department’s website here.

For students who submitted an appeal of their Calculated Grades

The appeals process will continue as normal, whether or not you have received an improved grade following the rectification of the errors. This is because the appeals process is a technical appeal, focused on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data through the process.

Applications for appeals closed on Wednesday 16 September.

Every effort is being made to process appeals as quickly as possible but it is not possible at this time to commit to a date for the issue of the appeal results. Students will be notified of this date as soon as possible.

It is not possible to provide an expedited appeal for any student or group of students. All appeals will be processed and results released simultaneously to ensure fairness and equity to all.

Students who applied to higher education institutions outside of Ireland

If you are notified of an upgrade in a subject(s) as a result of the errors, and you believe that it would have made a material difference to your application, you should in the first instance contact the higher education institution you applied to.

If necessary, following that, you can contact the Department by emailing lc2020@education.gov.ie.

CAO Round 3 Offers issued on 1 October

CAO round 3 offers issued at 5.00 pm on Thursday 1 October. Students who receive an offer in Round 3 and accept it may still receive an improved offer if their grades are impacted by the errors.

Helpline and further queries

The Department’s Calculated Grades helpline is available at (01) 889 2199 and is open from 11.00am to 7.00pm on Saturday 3 October and from 11.00am to 4.00pm on Sunday 4 October.

Queries may also be emailed to lc2020@education.gov.ie

In addition, the National Parents Council Helpline, at 1800 265 165, will re-open on Monday 5 October at 11 am.

The postponed Leaving Certificate exams are now due to begin on Monday 16 November. Registration for the Leaving Certificate examinations will be open from 9.00am Monday 28 September on the Student Portal here.

The closing date for registration for the November examinations was 5pm on Wednesday 07 October.

Last updated 07 September 2020

Information you will receive today

You can now view your Calculated Grade results online and download and print your ‘Statement of Provisional Results of Calculated Grades for Leaving Certificate 2020’. This is the only way to receive a hard copy of your Calculated Grades as formal Statements of Provisional Results will not be issued to schools this year.

If you are a Leaving Certificate Applied student, you can now view your ‘Statement of Provisional Results’ online, showing the credits you have achieved. Your school has received your full ‘Report of Credits and Statement of Provisional Results’ and will contact you about this.

A Student Information Guide on Leaving Certificate 2020, Results of Calculated Grades has also been published. The Guide contains information similar to that provided here and can be downloaded here.

How to get Calculated Grades results on 7 September

Your Calculated Grades results are available from 9am on 7 September. To receive your Calculated Grades, you should log in to the Calculated Grades Student Portal. A “Before you Begin Guide” is available on the Student Portal home page to help you access your results and print a statement of them.

How to view estimated subject percentage marks provided by schools

The Calculated Grades Student Portal will reopen on 14 September at 9am. At that point, you will be able to access the subject percentage marks that you were awarded by the Calculated Grades process as well as the estimated percentage marks provided by your school.

If you are unhappy with the Calculated Grades you receive in one or more subjects you will have the opportunity to submit an appeal.

The appeals process will open on 14 September at 9am and will be accessible via the Calculated Grades Student Portal. You will have until 5pm on 16 September to submit an appeal.

Calculated Grades have the same status as the usual Leaving Certificate exams

The Leaving Certificate class of 2020 will in no way be disadvantaged by receiving Calculated Grades, relative to previous or future Leaving Certificate students.

The government has made clear to higher and further education providers, to employers, and to higher education institutions abroad that Calculated Grades have the same status as the Leaving Certificate exams.

Supports and guidance available from your school

It is recognised that the tradition of going to your school to celebrate the results with teachers and classmates on the day that the results issue will not be the same as in previous years.

Recognising the unique set of circumstances this year, your school has several measures in place to support you today and in the following days. These measures recognise the role that schools played in nurturing and supporting you during your time at post-primary level.

Your school has been advised to provide appropriate support today, such as enabling you to come to the school at a scheduled time, (following COVID-19 and health and safety protocols), to meet with Guidance Counsellors, Year Heads, Tutors and Chaplains, and so on. NEPS psychologists are also available to offer advice and guidance to student support teams.

Further information on student supports available from your school, and details of the arrangements for both schools and students to access the Calculated Grades Results, are set out in Circular 0059/2020, available here.

Schools cannot discuss the estimated marks they submitted as part of the Calculated Grades process. Any questions or queries in this regard should be directed to the Calculated Grades helpline at 1800 111 135 or 1800 111 136 (9am to 4pm, 7 - 16 September) or emailed to the Office at lcsupport2020@education.gov.ie

Helplines and other supports

You can access other supports in addition to those offered through your school:

• HSE/HSE-funded service providers will be available to support students through the provision of e-mental health services. See here
• wellbeing resources developed by the National Educational Psychological Service are available here
• the CGEO helpline will be available at 1800 111 135 or 1800 111 136 (9am to 4pm, 7 - 16 September). Outside of these hours, queries may be emailed to lcsupport2020@education.gov.ie
• information is available from the Central Applications Office (CAO)

Here are the operating times of the NPC-PP LC 2020 Helpline:

Why some students may not receive Calculated Grades in a subject or subjects

The system of Calculated Grades was created to allow as many as possible of the 60,000 students in the Leaving Certificate class of 2020 to progress to employment, further education and training, or higher education in a way that is fair and equitable to all students.

The system is underpinned by key principles of objectivity, equity and fairness. For the Calculated Grades system to be operated with integrity, and to ensure fairness to all students, an estimated percentage mark, based on credible, satisfactory evidence, can only be accepted from an appropriate source.

There are two particular groups of students who may not have been able to receive Calculated Grades and they will already have been advised of this during August 2020:

• students who were enrolled in full-time education but were studying an extra subject(s) outside the school
• external students who were not enrolled in full-time education and are regarded as out-of-school learners

In cases where a student was attending school, but was studying one or more subjects outside of school, school Principals were asked to make every effort to provide an estimated percentage mark for that subject(s) provided there was sufficient, credible evidence available from an appropriate source.

Out of school learners had to apply directly to the CGEO for Calculated Grades.

Where it was not deemed possible to provide a Calculated Grade in a subject(s), to either an out of school learner or a student studying a subject outside of school, the student was contacted by the CGEO to inform them of this decision.

Despite every effort being made by schools and by the Department of Education and Skills to provide Calculated Grades to as many students as possible, there was a small number of cases where there was no credible evidence from an appropriate source to support a Calculated Grade in a particular subject.

Where it was not possible to provide a Calculated Grade, students had the right to appeal. They will also have the opportunity to sit the 2020 Leaving Certificate examinations in one or more subjects. The 2020 postponed Leaving Certificate examinations will commence on Monday 16 November, subject to public health advice.

Last updated 07 September 2020

Key dates after the results

• 7 September 2020 – UCAS deadline for confirmation by Irish students that the ‘remaining offer conditions’ have been met. For Irish students, these ‘remaining conditions’ refer to the presentation of the LC results to the UK institutions
• 11 September 2020 – CAO Round 1 offers received by students
• 14 September 2020 – Appeals application process opens at 9am
• 14 September 2020 – Access via the Student Portal to the estimated percentage marks from schools and calculated marks from the Calculated Grades Executive Office
• 16 September 2020 - Appeals application process closes at 5pm

Last updated 07 September 2020

Will I have my Calculated Grades results in time to go to college this year

Issuing the results today means that they are available in time if you have applied to the CAO and the UK’s UCAS systems. Both organisations have agreed to extend their timelines to accommodate the Calculated Grades process.

A sizeable number of Leaving Certificate students have also applied to attend higher education institutions in the Netherlands. The government has agreed with the Ministry for Education, Culture and Science in the Netherlands that Leaving Certificate students receiving their Calculated Grades results on 7 September can register to enter higher education institutions in the Netherlands for the 2020/21 academic year. Other European countries such as Poland and Hungary have shown similar flexibility.

Getting your results today will also allow you to progress to further education and training as close as possible as would have been the case had the Leaving Certificate exams been run as normal.

CAO Offer Dates and Reply Deadlines

On 11 September, you will receive either an email from the CAO containing details of your offer(s), or a ‘Statement of Application’ email if you have been unsuccessful. Level 8 and Level 7/6 emails/texts will issue separately. If you have not received an email/text and a friend or classmate has, please note that due to the large number of messages being distributed, emails/texts will be arriving at intervals (from approximately 1pm). You can still log in to your account from 2pm on 11 September to check for and accept an offer.

However, due to the large number of people awaiting offers in Round One, there will be heavy traffic on the site and delays may be possible for a short period after 2pm on 11 September. If there is a delay please be patient and try again later. You will have until 3pm on 16 September to accept an offer.

I need a particular subject I was studying outside school to fulfil minimum entry requirement/matriculation requirements

The higher education sector is being flexible in its approach to matriculation/minimum entry requirements if you have received Calculated Grades results.

The representative bodies of all of the Universities and Institutes of Technology agreed a common approach for those who studied Leaving Certificate 2020 a subject(s) outside school for matriculation/minimum entry purposes and for whom the Calculated Grades Executive Office was unable to award a Calculated Grade. If that is your own situation, you will be granted an exemption in the subject(s) solely for matriculation/minimum entry purposes. This exemption will be granted automatically and you do not have to apply for it.

You cannot use the exemptions(s) to satisfy additional programme requirements over and above the matriculation/minimum entry requirements.

The subject(s) will count as subject(s) for matriculation but will not attract points.

You can get further information from the admissions offices of the individual institution you have applied to.

Extra places in higher education in 2020/21

There will be extra places available if you have applied for college this year.

On 1 September Government approved an additional 1,250 places in the higher education system, on a diverse range of high-demand courses as part of a package of measures to support those applying to college in 2020. This will provide more places on high-demand courses across the higher education system in the academic year 2020/21.

An additional 1,415 undergraduate places in key skills areas will also be available, as part of the Human Capital Initiative.

This will provide additional reassurances to Leaving Certificate 2020 students that their unique situation has been understood and treated fairly. It also provides scope to ease anxiety, reduce uncertainty and demonstrate the ability of the education system to respond to student concerns.

Last updated 16 October 2020

Students who were disappointed with one or more of their Calculated Grades had the opportunity to submit an appeal.

The appeals process was open from 9am on 14 September until 5pm on 16 September. Appeals were submitted via the Calculated Grades Student Portal.

The appeals process has three stages, which are outlined below.

The results of stages 1 and 2 of the appeals process were made available to students who submitted appeals on Friday 16 October on the Calculated Grades Student Portal.

The appeals process is a process review focused on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data through the process.

It is not possible to appeal the information (estimated percentage mark or rank order) provided by the school. Due to the nature of the Calculated Grades system the professional judgement of the school is outside of the appeals process.

The design of the statistical model and the application of the national standardisation process is also outside of the scope of the appeals process.

Students who remain unhappy with the outcome of the stages 1 and 2 appeals can apply for a stage 3 appeal.

Purpose of the appeal process

The appeal process is a process review, focused on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of the data. An example of this would be whether any mistake was made in entering your information into any of the systems used in the process.

How the appeal process works

The appeals process is a process review focused on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data.

Appeals were accepted from individual students only.

Appeals from schools or other groups were not accepted.

The appeals process includes three stages as follows:

• Stage 1: Checks were undertaken on the forms completed by the school and that the information was transferred correctly from the forms to the data collection system
• Stage 2: A review was carried out to ensure that the data was correctly received and processed through the systems used in the national standardisation process conducted by the department

Data checks included a check to ensure that the rank order of the class group for the subject and level taken were preserved in the standardisation process and that students placed on the same school-estimated mark in the same subject and at the same level taken by the school are conferred with the same calculated mark.

Stages 1 and 2 were taken together.

• Stage 3: Students unhappy with the outcome of the above process can invoke a separate process to have their appeal reviewed by independent Appeals Scrutineers. These Scrutineers are independent of the department.

Students who wish to invoke this process can do so by downloading and completing an application form from the Student Portal, which must then be returned via email or post.

The closing date for receipt of completed forms is 5pm on Friday 23 October.

The Independent Appeals Scrutineers will check to ensure the correct procedures were followed throughout the appeals process. The Scrutineers will have access to the records and documentation considered at Stages 1 and 2.

Students who consider that their case has not been processed correctly can make a complaint to the Ombudsman or, in the case of students under 18 years of age, the Ombudsman for Children.

Students were also given the opportunity to register for the postponed Leaving Certificate examinations which are due to begin on 16 November.

If you want to submit other evidence of your achievement in support of your appeal

As the appeal is a technical check of the data being processed through the system, you should not send any supporting documentation or evidence of achievement. Material such as this will not be considered and may not be returned.

Purpose of standardisation

Schools provided an estimated percentage mark and a rank order (the student's place in the class group) for each of your subjects. We know from research that teachers are very good at making judgements about their students in the local context of the school. Schools approached this task in a very professional manner, in line with detailed guidelines about the process, but inevitably some schools were overly harsh in their estimations while others were overly generous. This is to be expected given that there is no national standard on which to base an estimated mark. But to be fair to the class of 2020, the teacher judgements made at the level of the school had to be adjusted so that a common national standard was applied.

The process of national standardisation was applied to the school information in order to ensure comparability between the standards applied by individual schools and the national standard. This standardising process happens every year and would have happened in 2020 had the Leaving Certificate examinations been run as normal.

The national standardisation process has led to some school estimates staying the same; some being increased; and some being reduced. The overall data on school estimated marks showed that there was a very significant rise in estimated grades against what would normally be achieved nationally. This level of grade increase based on the school estimates would have been unrealistic. For example, based on the school data there would have been 13.8% H1 grades this year when in a normal year there are 5.8%. Even with the standardisation process the rate of H1s this year is over 9%.

In the absence of the Leaving Certificate examinations in 2020 every effort has been made to make the system as fair as possible for as many students a possible. The statistical model used was blind to demographic characteristics (e.g. school type, student gender, etc.) either at the level of the student or the school. The standardisation process means that the same standard has been applied uniformly across all schools. This means anyone using the certificate to make a judgement between two people who hold this certificate, either now or in the future, can place equal value on the same grade in the same subject, without regard to where they went to school, as they would in a normal year.

We appreciate that some students will be disappointed at the results they have achieved. While this is the case every year when the Leaving Certificate results are published, it may be more difficult for students to understand when they see the estimated mark from the school has been adjusted downwards.

Schools prepared this information in May and submitted it in June. Schools were asked not to discuss their estimates with students on the basis that the marks assigned by the school may not be the final marks and it might be misleading to students to have this information in advance of the Calculated Grades process being completed. We appreciate the cooperation shown by schools in this regard.

Last updated 28 September 2020

Students have previously been provided with their Calculated Grades, estimated marks and calculated marks through the student portal.

From Monday 28 September at 9 am students will also have access to their rank order in their class.

What is Class Rank Order

In order to form the basis for Calculated Grades, schools provided for each student at each of their subjects and levels an estimated mark and rank order within their class group.

The rank order is the student’s position in their class group relative to the other students in their class at that subject and level as indicated by their school.

Personal Choice to access Rank Order

Students are under no obligation to access this information. It is their personal choice to login to the portal if they wish to access this information.

Personal Data to be treated sensitively

The rank order is the personal information of each individual student. Students are asked to be extremely mindful in sharing this information with other students in their class as they might inadvertently reveal the rank order of other students in the class, which is their personal information.

Understanding Rank Order

Each student’s position in their class rank order has been preserved in the national standardisation process. Students’ position in the class relative to other students in the school taking the same subject and level was indicated through the in-school alignment process.

This means that the standards in each class relative to other classes of the same subject and level in the school were indicated by the estimated marks. This means that while a student might be at a high rank order within their class group there may be other students in the school who have received higher calculated grades than that student as the estimated marks of these other students were higher. Likewise, a student who received a lower rank order in a class may have received a higher calculated grade than a student in another class who got a higher rank order. Again, this is down to the estimated percentage marks awarded to each of these students. All students in the school with the same estimated marks for that subject and level, whether in the same class or another class of the same subject and level in the school, will have the same calculated marks and the same calculated grade.

No Need to make a Data Access Request

This information is being made available to all students who wish to access it through the student portal. This information is the personal information of students and would be available to them under a data access or a freedom of information request.

Reason for providing this information through the portal

Following detailed consideration of the issues associated with making this information available, the department considers that, on balance, it is better to make this information available without request through the portal rather than students needing to make a request for it. This is in line with good practice under both Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation.

In making this decision, the department engaged with the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) who was satisfied that making this information available through the portal was an efficient way to provide students with access to their personal data which is considered to add to transparency and fairness about the calculated grades process.

The department considers having consulted with the DPC and obtained legal advices, that it is in the best interests of students to enable them to access their personal data in a prompt and efficient manner, without placing unnecessary barriers to them accessing what undoubtedly is their personal data, to which they have a right of access under law.

Purpose of providing Rank Order now

The provision of rank order at this time is purely for information purposes. The appeals process for calculated grades has closed but, in any event, both estimated marks and rank order form part of the professional judgment of the school and are outside of the scope of the appeals process, which comprises a technical check on the data submitted by schools and the further processing of the data.

Leaving Certificate results and CAO offers time can be an anxious time for many students.

For the Leaving Certificate class of 2020 the tradition of coming back to school to celebrate the results with teachers and classmates on the day that the results issue was not the same as in previous years.

The Gov.ie/LeavingCertificate page contains a lot of information that will be helpful to students in understanding the Calculated Grades process and providing clarity on issues they may have.

Schools have been advised to provide support to students during this period, through enabling students to come to the school if they wish at a scheduled time, following COVID-19 and health and safety protocols, to meet with members of the Student Support Team such as Guidance Counsellors, Year Heads, Tutors and Chaplains.

HSE/HSE-funded service providers will be available to support students through the provision of e-mental health services. For more see gov.ie/LeavingCertificate.

How schools determined estimated percentage marks for students

The cornerstone of the Calculated Grades model is a reliance on the professional judgement of teachers, including principals and deputy principals, in providing 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 arisen. Schools were asked to draw on a range of evidence in making their judgment. Schools were provided with very clear guidance as to how to approach this process in the document Calculated Grades for Leaving Certificate 2020 – Guide for Schools on Providing Estimated Percentage Marks and Class Rank Orderings. You can read more about this here.

If you want to know why your calculated mark is lower than your estimated percentage mark from the school

Research makes clear that because teacher judgements are made in the context of each school, they need to be examined and adjusted at a national level to ensure comparability across different schools and that a common national standard is applied.

Schools will have taken different approaches to providing estimated percentage marks for their students. While clear guidance was provided to schools in avoiding bias during the process of estimating marks for their students, it is inevitable that some schools will have been overly harsh in their estimations while others will have been overly generous. This is to be expected given that there is no national standard on which to base an estimated mark.

A process of national standardisation was applied to the information provided by schools in order to ensure comparability between the standards applied by individual schools.

The national standardisation process has led to some school estimates staying the same; some being increased and some being reduced.

Appeals can be made by individual students only

The Calculated Grades appeal process is student focused and applications will be accepted through the Student Portal from individual students only making their own decision to submit an appeal.

Appeals from schools, entire class groups, or other groups will not be accepted.

There is no fee to appeal

While there is normally a per subject fee to appeal Leaving Certificate results, this year appeals against Calculated Grades are free.

Appeal processes can lead to a result being upgraded, downgraded or staying the same

Following the processing of the appeals, results may stay the same; be upgraded or be downgraded.

Notification of the outcome of an appeal

Anyone appealing a grade will be notified of the outcome of their appeal through the Student Portal.

Date for issue of appeal results to be confirmed

Every effort will be made to process appeals as quickly as possible but we are unable at this time to commit to a date for the issue of the appeal results. Students will be notified of this date as soon as possible.

Every effort will be made to process Stages 1 and 2 of the appeals process and issue results in time to allow you to take up offer of a college place (or change course) within the current academic year.

However, it is not possible to guarantee at this stage that, following a successful appeal, you will be able to take up a college course this year. It depends on factors such as the number of appeals received, the nature of the appeal, and the higher education course being applied for. However, where possible, higher education institutions will attempt to facilitate you.

Appeals outcomes will be communicated to all students at the same time. This is to guarantee fairness to all students who appeal.

There is no facility for a fast-track appeal.

The Independent Appeals Scrutineers stage (stage 3) will take longer. If you are successful at this stage, and as a result receive an improved college offer, it will not be in time for you to avail of this offer within the current academic year. You will able to take a deferred offer for 2021/22.

How the CAO process will work with the appeals process

The CAO will be automatically notified by the department of the outcomes of the appeals process.

If, as a result of an upgrade, you become eligible for a higher choice college place than the one you were already offered, you will be eligible for that course. However, depending on when you receive the result of your appeal, and the availability of places on the course, it may not be possible to take up the new course offered in this academic year and you may receive a deferred offer.

What students who successfully appeal and receive a new offer can do, including where they have already started a college course and paid fees

You will be eligible to transfer to the new course you have been offered without any additional charges being applied. This may be on a deferred basis.

You will also be eligible to defer this offer until the 2021/22 academic year. Attendance for the first year on the new course would remain eligible for free fees and SUSI funding as appropriate.

Last updated 02 October 2020

This is a summary of information available on www.examinations.ie. For further information, please check www.examinations.ie.

The written Leaving Certificate exams will begin on 16 November

Leaving Certificate/Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) written examinations will commence on Monday 16 November 2020. The Leaving Certificate examinations will end on Friday 11 December 2020 and the LCA examinations will end on Saturday 28 November.

Anyone who had previously registered for the June 2020 exams can register for the November exams.

There will be one examination on weekday evenings, Monday to Friday, and two examination sessions at weekends, on both Saturdays and Sundays.

Schools will not be able to provide tuition to anyone sitting these exams in November as they have already returned to teaching current students.

The exam timetable

The timetable for the examinations will be available on www.examinations.ie.

Each examination will last the same duration as previous years.

Details of the written examinations

The exams will be based on written exams only (that is, not including orals or practicals but including coursework in five subjects which was completed prior to schools closing in March). At this stage, it is not possible to conduct oral or practical exams or to complete unfinished coursework. Oral and practical components are school-based, requiring significant levels of support at school level, including the requirement to take serving teachers out of their schools to undertake state examinations work.

In the case of five subjects, the SEC will also mark coursework which you had completed before schools closed.

These marks will be included in the grading of these subjects, which are:

• Home Economics (already marked by the SEC)
• LCVP Portfolio
• Design and Communication Graphics
• Physical Education (PE) Physical Activity Project
• Engineering

In all other subjects, you will be awarded grades based solely on your written papers.

You will do your examinations in your own school

Candidates will take their examinations in their own school (i.e. the school in which they were entered for or scheduled to sit the June 2020 examinations).

It is not possible to make changes to these arrangements.

Candidates who had been due to take their examinations in other centres such as halls in June 2020, will be contacted directly by email by the SEC to advise them of the venue for their examination(s) in November.

Combining Calculated Grades results with the results of the written exams

If you decide to sit the postponed Leaving Certificate examination, your final Leaving Certificate will reflect the best results for you.

For example:

• if you sit the later exams and you receive a grade lower than the Calculated Grade that you received in the subject, your final certificate will display the Calculated Grade, as this is higher
• if you receive a higher grade in the later exam, then this is the grade that will appear on your final certificate

However, it should be noted that results from the November exams will not be available in time to begin college this year.

Dates for the results of the exams

Results from the November exams are not expected before early February 2021 at the earliest.

If you sit the exams and opted to receive Calculated Grades, you will be awarded the higher subject grade achieved between the Calculated Grade and the written exam.

The results will not be available in time to begin college this year.

Appeals process for the written exams

If you sit the written exams you will have access to the usual appeals process. This involves the opportunity to view your script(s) in advance of applying for an appeal. Appeal scripts will be marked by a different examiner to the one who marked the work originally and you will ultimately have access to the Independent Appeals Scrutineer service to confirm that all SEC appeal procedures were correctly followed.

Fees for the written Leaving Certificate exams in November

There will be no fee if you choose to sit the examinations in November.

Reasonable accommodation provision for the November exams

If you were approved for a reasonable accommodation in the original 2020 Leaving Certificate written exams, such as a reader or waiver from spelling and grammar, you will still have this accommodation in the November exams.

Further information is available on the State Examinations Commission’s website

A more detailed FAQ regarding the November examinations is available on www.examinations.ie.

Information for DARE and HEAR college applicants

As a significant part of the 2020/21 academic year will already have passed by the time the November Leaving Certificate exam results are issued, you will only be considered for college entry in 2021/22.

If you were already eligible for DARE/HEAR 2020, you can carry forward your eligibility into 2021. But you must follow the procedure for carrying forward eligibility detailed here. (Note that this procedure refers to the current year).

If you were ineligible for DARE and/or HEAR in 2020, you can reapply in 2021.

Last updated 07 September 2020

Why and how estimated marks from schools were standardised

A process of national standardisation takes place in the Leaving Certificate every year, in order to ensure consistency across students, schools and years.

For the calculated grades process this year, a specific standardisation process was also put in place which involves iterative statistical modelling. The main reason for this is to ensure equity and fairness for all students. As a result, it was expected from the outset that estimated marks received from schools would change due to the standardisation process.

The technical detail of the standardisation process is now published and available here.

It is as a result of this standardisation process that the Calculated Grades will have an equal standing as previous and future Leaving Certificate grades. If this is not done, it would undermine the currency and value of Calculated Grades.

Research clearly shows that because teacher judgments are made in the context of each school, they need to be examined and adjusted as necessary at a national level to ensure comparability across different schools and that a common national standard is applied.

Schools will have taken different approaches to providing estimated percentage marks for their students this year. Although clear guidance was provided on how to avoid bias whilst doing this, it is inevitable that some schools will have been overly harsh in their estimations while others will have been overly generous. Standardising the estimated marks brings schools into line with each other across a national standard. As a result, some estimated marks will have been reduced and others will have been increased.

Why schools’ estimated percentage marks cannot be used alone

The approach taken to calculated grades is based on international, educational research which tells us that teachers are more likely to make accurate judgments of student performance in a high stakes context and that teachers are good at ranking their students relative to each other. Therefore, schools were asked to provide an estimated mark and a rank order for each student in a class group.

However, teachers in each school may be unaware of standards in other schools. Some may over-estimate student marks while others may underestimate marks. Under-estimation and over-estimation of marks does not occur evenly across all schools. Standardisation helps to ensure that students in different schools are treated equitably.

By collecting and using a range of different types of information, the different sources of data complement each other, to provide the most accurate and fair set of results within the limitations of the available data. As the school data is only accurate at school level, the final calculated marks, and so Calculated Grades, provided to students, for any subject and level, may be higher or lower than the estimates provided by their school. While the school-based estimates may move upwards or downwards, the class rank order, provided by the school, will not be changed.

Information on the details of the standardisation process

The standardisation process is now complete. A report by the National Standardisation Group which details how the process was implemented has been published and is available here.

In addition the Report of the Technical Working Group has been published. This report provides the background to the design of the Calculated Grade model and is available here.

Other documents from the bodies that oversaw the calculated grades system and the national standardisation process have also been published:

• First Letter of Opinion regarding the Calculated Grades System from the Independent Steering Committee to the Minister for Education
• Calculated Grades 2020 External Reviewer Statement – Statement in Advance of the Issue of Results

These documents are available here.

Changes made to the standardisation process announced on 1 September

The main reason for applying a standardisation process to the system of Calculated Grades is to ensure equity and fairness for all students. This principle of equity and fairness underpinned the original Government Decision of 8 May 2020 to introduce a system of Calculated Grades and has been the guiding principle in all of the work undertaken by the Calculated Grades Executive Office.

It is important to understand that from the outset, estimated marks received from schools were expected to change as a result of the standardisation process. Irish teachers and schools engaged diligently in providing estimated marks and rankings in 786 schools and centres, but they had never done such work in the past. Although teachers in each school or centre were knowledgeable about standards of learning among their own students, they could not be fully aware of standards in other schools across the country. This meant that it would not have been possible for them to make absolutely accurate judgements in terms of the national standard for Leaving Certificate grades for all subjects at higher, ordinary and foundation level. Standardisation was necessary to ensure that the candidates receiving calculated grades in 2020 are treated fairly and equitably relative to each other.

In addition, it is desirable to ensure that candidates within the 2020 cohort who are sitting the alternative written examinations in November and those who sat the examinations in 2019 or who will sit the examinations in 2021 and other years, are also equitably treated. By reducing excessively generous marking among those receiving calculated grades, and by increasing the marks of those that have been marked too harshly in teachers’ estimates, standardisation helps to ensure a degree of comparability between students receiving calculated grades and those sitting examinations.

The standardisation process put in place at the start of the Calculated Grades process used a range of data sets, including:

• the estimated percentage marks and class ranking of students supplied by schools to the Calculated Grades Executive Office
• Junior Cycle Exam performance of the class of 2020 in each school, to be used at a group level rather than an individual level
• the historical school distribution – based on historical Leaving Certificate Examination performance at the school level across 2017, 2018 and 2019
• historical national Leaving Certificate results data for 2017, 2018 and 2019 with student-level linkages to the corresponding Junior Certificate results data of those student cohorts
• the historical national distribution of student results on a subject-by-subject basis

On 1 September the government approved the finalised process for Calculated Grades. The process, through the examination and adjustment of estimated percentage marks from schools, will fulfil its key role of ensuring that the calculated grades iron out the unfairness that could arise when different schools applied various standards when judging the performance of students. The government agreed to a number of adjustments proposed by the Minister. The Minister was conscious that the use of school-by-school historical data on the performance of students in previous years’ cohorts (data set 3 above) had been criticised in public commentary about calculated grades and that it had led in other jurisdictions to accusations that students attending disadvantaged schools in those jurisdictions were at risk of being treated unfairly or subjected to “a post-code lottery”. There had also been criticism about the judgements of schools being adjusted to rigidly maintain year-to-year comparability in the national standards of the examinations.

In view of the above the Minister proposed that the finalised standardisation model should not include the school-by-school historical data on the Leaving Certificate performance of students in the school in previous years. She also proposed placing a reduced reliance on the historical national distribution of student results on a subject-by-subject basis (data set 5 above). These adjustments to the model were agreed by Government.

As a result of the changes, even greater emphasis was placed on the estimated percentage marks provided by schools, while still using to a limited extent historical national distribution data, along with the combined Junior Certificate exam performance of the Leaving Certificate class of 2020 in each school.

How this change impacted on the process

The outcomes from the model reflect the objective of ensuring that the school estimates are given priority. Schools’ estimated percentage marks remain at the core of the model.

On an overall basis the results are stronger than in previous years, with different effects clear across various subjects and levels. However, the government considers that this is acceptable given the exceptional nature of the year that Leaving Certificate students have experienced.

The finalised standardisation model is not showing any differential effects against disadvantaged schools. In fact, the attainment gap has narrowed compared to previous years.

The process will also deliver on the commitment made that stronger performing students in traditionally lower-performing schools can attain beyond the normal range of grades provided their performance has been reflected in the interval level information between students in the rank order provided by the schools as set out in the Guide for Schools.

Do my individual Junior Cycle examination results determine my Calculated Grades

No. Your individual Junior Cycle results do not determine your Calculated Grades. Rather, what the Calculated Grades process does is to take the overall Junior Cycle results of the Leaving Certificate class of 2020 in each school and use these to help in predicting the likely range of Leaving Certificate performance of that group. The fact that the vast majority of 2020 Leaving Certificate students would have sat the Junior Cycle examinations provides a good means of predicting the pattern of performance of these students at an aggregate level. The process is not applied at an individual student level.

Further information on this is available in the Report from the National Standardisation Group, which can be found here.

How the Calculated Grades processes were overseen

A range of steps were taken to ensure adequate oversight of the various Calculated Grades processes:

• a National Standardisation Group implemented the national standardisation process and the application, review and adjustment of the data in line with the principles, parameters and constraints associated with the model to arrive at fair and just representations of student performance
• a Calculated Grades Programme Board provided governance and decision-making for the overall Calculated Grades programme
• an Independent Steering Committee oversaw the quality and independence of the process and reported to the Minister
• an External Reviewer was appointed as a further independent expert to provide oversight of the system and overall validation on the model, including the appeals system

Differences between the approach in Ireland and the standardisation process that applied in the UK

There are a number of very important distinctions between the UK approach to standardisation and that applicable in Ireland.

• the Calculated Grades model used in Ireland gives primacy to the teachers’ estimated marks. The Irish standardisation model takes as its starting point the teachers’ estimated marks, not the historical patterns of achievement in each school used as the starting point in the UK. Also, the UK relied in most instances on student ranking only and could not take account of the relative differences between students’ marks
• under the Calculated Grades model we collected much more precise information about student achievement. We collected estimated percentage marks for each subject for each student from schools, not estimated grades. This has allowed the model to adjust much more carefully how we combine different sources of information that we have concerning students’ performance
• the Calculated Grades model built in systems that are able to identify and fairly accredit the learning of an exceptional student, irrespective of the school that he or she attended. A student’s performance in Ireland cannot be constrained by historical school performance if data from the teacher shows the student to be exceptional

Arrangements in place to ensure oversight of the Calculated Grades processes and the process of standardisation

A range of steps were taken to ensure adequate oversight of the Calculated Grades process.

A National Standardisation Group had responsibility for the implementation of the national standardisation process and the application, review and adjustment of the data in line with the principles, parameters and constraints associated with the model to arrive at fair and just representations of student performance. It was comprised of representatives from the Calculated Grades Executive Office, the Department of Education and Skills Inspectorate, the Educational Research Centre and the State Examinations Commission. The report of the group can be found here.

A Calculated Grades Programme Board provided governance and decision-making for the overall programme associated with the Calculated Grades Model and process. The Board was chaired by an Assistant Secretary General from the Department of Education and Skills and membership comprises officials from the Calculated Grades Executive Office, the wider Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

A non-statutory Independent Steering Committee to oversee the quality and independence of the process being undertaken by the Calculated Grades Executive Office was established by the Minister. The Steering Committee comprises six independent members appointed by the Minister and is chaired by Dr Áine Lawlor, former Director of the Teaching Council. The Steering Committee was established to provide assurance to the Minister as to the quality and integrity of the outcomes of the Calculated Grades system. The 1st Letter of Opinion regarding the Calculated Grades System of the Independent Steering Committee can be found here.

In addition, Dr Janet Brown, former Chief Executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, was appointed to the role of External Reviewer. The External Reviewer is an independent expert, unconnected with the design of the Calculated Grades model, who provides further independent oversight of the system and overall validation on the model, including the operation of the appeals system. Dr. Brown’s Statement in Advance of the Issue of Results can be found here.