A couple of weeks ago I spent 3 hours with the infinitely patient Lucy Rimmington from Ofqual, trying to get under the skin of Progress 8, the new GCSEs and what it all means for teachers, children and parents. Thanks to her and to several teachers who helped me with questions and queries along that way, I’ve written this blog to try to explain to parents and teachers some of the central issues in our exam system. I should be clear that Lucy was simply explaining processes and language to me and that any opinions or conclusions drawn are mine alone.
My first question centred around what I referred to as “norm referencing” and what is more correctly termed “comparative outcomes.” Is it true, I asked, that the proportion of pupils passing GCSEs is set in advance, regardless of criteria or achievement? The answer is yes, well sort of. Exam…
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A Principled view 
Thank you fab blog as always. My concern is my 9/10 students disengaged missing school victims of abuse domestic violence etc they will count massively for progress 8. We need at least 90 students to be positive to overide these students. Surely a cap is needed for bright vulnerable students. Already i have numerous application’s of vulnerable students encouraged to leave fresh start the day after census! This system affects c/d schools more than the affluent areas. What a surprise.