 MEP: Secondary Demonstration Project Diary 1997-1999 |
| August 27th Results are out So, this is what happened, together with what I gave in the Mock exams last March and my predictions made in June. I've also included, for comparison, how my other, less able Foundation SMP group faired:
Looked at this way, and assuming the two blocks are approximately equal in ability, temperament and outlook, and assuming four "equal" teachers, it may be possible to argue that there is evidence of underachievement in Block X. These are all massive assumptions. The Grade D's The fifteen grade D's in my group include a number who should, had they adopted the right attitude, got C's instead. They were in many ways the target group of this project. Now that it is all over I can look back at individuals, and with hindsight convince myself that in most cases the results were inevitable. But I don't think they were. Somewhere along the line, these pupils stopped seeing me as their guide towards achievement but developed their own views, which at school seemed to be, "I don't care what you tell me, I'm going to drift along, hope for the best and see what I get". A kind of National Lottery approach. It could be you. Many, as I warned them repeatedly last year, will be appearing next week in GCSE retake groups - along with a lot of others. I expect our retake groups to be huge, unfortunately. Another way of looking at it is that many of these D's are now effectively indistinguishable from the D's gained in my foundation group. Now some of these are a story in themselves. Two, achieved by girls, were down to hard work; the other two, by boys, were a surprise. One was achieved by someone I would have to describe as "nice but dim". He will now be doing A levels and retaking GCSE at Intermediate level. At least, that is the theory. Many of the D's in the Exeter group had far greater mathematical ability than he. The other was awarded to one of the notorious boys of the year, who hardly ever did any work in class, was sent out more than once, argued - barrack-room lawyer style - for most of the two years, but remained obstinately confident that he would still do all right. Basically he was quite bright but resolutely lazy and argumentative. The Grade C's The seven grade C's in the MEP group could be characterised as :
For anyone who has a clue what "average residuals" means, the figure for this class was 0.16. If the overiding intention was to get as many C's as possible, has this project been a success? At this stage I cannot say. I asked the Head how he explains reasonable results from a group with whom I was most disappointed. He said it shows the success of target setting and academic mentoring. |