Marking of Scholarship proceeding as expected

10 January 2006

Marking of Scholarship exams proceeding as expected

Marking of the 27 Scholarship examinations is nearing completion.

Qualifications Authority acting Chief Executive Karen Sewell says marking is expected to be finished next week and the results will be sent to students in February, as planned.

Awarding Scholarship to approximately 3 per cent of students studying each subject at level 3 follows the advice of the Scholarship Reference Group to cabinet. The Reference Group also recommended that an external group of experts, the Scholarship Technical Advisory Group (STAG) advise the Qualifications Authority on the application of the 3 per cent.

Students must reach the standard in the individual subject to be considered for a Scholarship award. In any instances where the intended 3 per cent is not met because the students haven't met the standard, fewer Scholarships will be awarded. On the advice of STAG changes have been made to the way Scholarship exams are being marked to enable identification of the top 3 per cent of students. This involves a more refined marking system, which will rank students' performance and clearly identify both the top students and the cut off point for the award of Scholarship.

The Scholarship Technical Advisory Group will meet next week to analyse the results and make recommendations on applying the 3 per cent cut off.

"I am pleased to report that the Scholarship marking process has run smoothly and we're looking forward to discussing the results with STAG. Of the 27 subjects, only one has required additional input from markers. The panel leader and marker for Drama are reviewing the marking of the work of fewer than fifty Drama students because the initial marking didn't discriminate clearly enough between the individual students' performances.

"This is to do with the application of the new marking system in this subject and doesn't relate to the quality of the students' performance," says Karen Sewell.

More than 6,500 students enrolled for Scholarship exams last year but not all students turned up for the exams. It seems likely that following professional development in term 3 teachers were better able to advise students about the demands of Scholarship.

ENDS

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