This repository contains R code that Ofqual developed to support GCSE, AS and A level awarding of calculated grades in summer 2020.
Calculated grades were not finally used in GCSE, AS or A level awarding (except in the small number of cases where they were higher than a candidate’s centre assessment grade). Nonetheless, publishing this code promotes transparency, allowing others to review and evaluate this aspect of Ofqual's approach.
The code developed and presented here was not the final code used. Exam boards were responsible for determining the final code that supported the production of calculated grades in a way that would work with each of their individual computer systems. The code we produced was designed to assist exam board compliance by demonstrating how Ofqual's relevant regulatory requirements could be implemented.
More information about the approach Ofqual took in the summer, including an explanation of how standardisation worked, can be found in, 'Awarding GCSE, AS & A levels in summer 2020: interim report'.
The code is written in ‘R’. ‘R’ is a free software environment and programming language that uses publicly available online libraries. It is a flexible language and therefore the code we created could have been written in different ways. Our code includes comments written in English to help those using it.
Ofqual are currently working with Ofsted, the Department for Education and UCAS to make available the data used in 2020 awarding and its outcomes, alongside a wider range of data, to support further transparency. This will allow further analysis – including consideration of the relationship between summer 2020 results and other measures (such as university application and attainment data and, eventually, degree outcomes) – and further review of the model we used. Ofqual plan to make the range of data available to independent, accredited researchers via the Office for National Statistics’ Secure Research Service. This data-sharing project aims to support Ofqual and the wider system to learn from this summer’s awarding process. It is expected that researchers will be able to apply to access this data from early 2021.
The code included in this repository is Crown Copyright 2020 and is released under the Open Government Licence version 3, a copy of which can be found in the LICENCE file.