[Year 12 SofDev] Scaling - renamed

Thu Sep 13 14:52:45 EST 2007

Better taught students will do better in the exam. Thus they will rise
to the top of the group. Where the general standard rises then over the
years the exam will become harder so that it still acts as a reasonable
discriminator. When you mark exams you see the standard. If you do not
mark exams then it is hard to understand the true level of attainment
that is evidenced each year.

David and Gordon ( and me when I was at MacRob ) can have an excellent
clientele. These students will rise to very high parts of the collective
group. 

** Thus scaling will not penalise them very much at all  **
Scaling varies with your position in the study score ranking.

A student in SD in the mid 40s is penalised very little. And honestly,
in SD any student that gets a mid 40s has done well and perhaps, because
of the size of the tail in the SD group, achieved better than realistic
projections of equitability would suggest. 

This applies even more so with ITA 

If the WHOLE group is taught better then the exam will become a little
harder to ensure that it still spreads them out. If you mark the exam
then you will see that there are questions in there that still spread
even the very best students. VERY VERY very few people get 100% on the
exam VERY few.

Scaling reflects the fact that there are a significant number of
students in this subject who, because they know it all, do not study the
course and so do not achieve very well. There are so many that the real
mean is 26 and in ITA is 25 ( though I suspect that in ITA it should be
more like 22 )

Remember that the sole purpose of a study score is to put the students
into a long line - to rank them - for uni entrance. The study score does
not reflect their absolute attainment -- it is a ranking system. That is
why study scores cannot be compared from one year to the next because we
are working with a different cohort of students.

In SD we are lucky that we have a very stable exam setting panel who
mark the exam and who understand what it is trying to do. Thus we are
don't have major variations in the standard each year.

Andrew Shortell
Braemar College

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:sofdev-
> bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Gordon Poultney
> Sent: Thursday, 13 September 2007 2:03 PM
> To: Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 SofDev] Scaling - renamed
> 
> 
> ...and is it true that a subject that is taught better collectively
would
> be penalised with a larger scaling down?
> I suggest that VITTA, this list and a few other factors have led to
> InfoSystems /SofDev being taught better over the past few years.
> 
> gordon
> 
> 
> 
> > Hi Andrew
> > At both this and my previous school - I have had *lots* of kids who
> > both do Specialist and who are *really serious* about getting a
great
> > ENTER. So serious, in fact, that the knowledge that they are going
to
> > get scaled down for my subject stops them enroling in it.
> > This is the reality and I have to ask - since the subject gets
> > penalised - are smarter students being penalised for doing it? I
really
> > do want a genuine public debate about this because the students who
do
> > SD and Physics tell me that my/our subject is just as hard - some
say
> > harder.
> > David
> >
> > David Dawson
> > Head of Information Technology
> > Head of Learning Technologies
> > St.Kilda Rd Campus
> > Wesley College, Melbourne
> > Wk 8102 6340
> >
> >
> >>>> a.shortell at braemar.vic.edu.au 13/09/2007 11:55:52 am >>>
> > Hi David
> >
> > Scaling is an attempt to equate outcomes for the purposes of
> > university
> > entry. It is only important for students who are serious about
getting
> > a
> > good ENTER.
> >
> >
> >
> > Info Sys was scaled down because of the students who took the
subject.
> >
> >
> > VCAA always assigns 30 as the mean study score with a standard
> > deviation
> > of 6. This is publicly available knowledge (not always easy to find
> > though!!)
> >
> > It does not matter about the quality of the students - the mean is
> > still
> > 30.
> >
> >
> >
> > When you equate this to students who do Specialist and Latin who
also
> > get a mean of 30 you can probably see that there is perhaps not an
> > equivalence of result. VTAC attempts to address this inequity by
> > scaling. If you look at last year's scaling report then you will see
> > that some subjects were scaled down by over 10 points (wow you might
> > say
> > - but look at the subjects. Would a student who could do Latin and
> > Specialist do those subjects? Seriously,  ?)
> >
> >
> >
> > Now think about the students who take SD (and ITA )  . Are they
really
> > as good as the students doing Specialist and Latin ????? So they
need
> > to
> > have their results processed or manipulated so that it can be seen
to
> > have some equivalence of outcome with those who do the harder
> > subjects.
> >
> >
> >
> > You can always ask me more off list - if others are interested in
more
> > then reply on list otherwise  off list to andrew at braemar.vic.edu.au
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Andrew Shortell
> >
> > Braemar College
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >
> >> From: sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:sofdev-
> >
> >> bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Claudia Graham
> >
> >> Sent: Thursday, 13 September 2007 9:47 AM
> >
> >> To: Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List
> >
> >> Subject: RE: [Year 12 SofDev] Gamemaker
> >
> >>
> >
> >> Hi David,
> >
> >>
> >
> >> The scaling process is not VCAA but VTAC and the scaling changes
> > each
> >
> >> year based on cohort and their abilities and results. With a
> > different
> >
> >> style of paper this year, who knows what might happen.
> >
> >>
> >
> >> Claudia
> >
> >>
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >
> >> From: sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au
> >
> >> [mailto:sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of David Dawson
> >
> >> Sent: 13 September 2007 8:56 AM
> >
> >> To: sofdev at edulists.com.au
> >
> >> Subject: Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Gamemaker
> >
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> >
> >
> >> I am also curious as to whether Software Devt will be marked "down"
> >
> >> like IS was. What is the actual justification for this? Can it be
> >
> >> changed? When can this be reconsidered?
> >
> >>
> >
> >> Is there anyone out there from the VCAA panel for this subject who
> > can
> >
> >> respond?
> >
> >> David Dawson
> >
> >>
> >
> >> David Dawson
> >
> >> Head of Information Technology
> >
> >> Head of Learning Technologies
> >
> >> St.Kilda Rd Campus
> >
> >> Wesley College, Melbourne
> >
> >> Wk 8102 6340
> >
> >>
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> >
> >
>
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> 
> --
> Gordon Poultney
> 
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