[Year 12 SofDev] Scaling - renamed
Andrew Shortell
a.shortell at braemar.vic.edu.au
Thu Sep 13 14:57:08 EST 2007
Also
Scaling indicates how many students have taken the subject because they
are "also rans" - people who cannot be bothered working or are incapable
of academic achievement but who are still at school because what else
can they do and they do not want to miss out on all of the 18th parties
(yes, I have some of them in my class)
Any subject scaled down has a larger number of theses sorts of people.
Thus if you are a moderately good academic sort of and AND you are
prepared to work AND study AND listen to the teacher AND study then you
can actually do quite well because you float to the top because of the
others. The scaling pulls you back a little. You are still ahead!! The
more duds there are in the subject then the better you can do RELATIVELY
. And RELATIVE is what the study score is all about.
Andrew Shortell
Braemar College
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:sofdev-
> bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Adrian Janson
> Sent: Thursday, 13 September 2007 2:26 PM
> To: 'Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List'
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 SofDev] Scaling - renamed
>
> Hi David and all,
>
> I have to agree wholeheartedly with David's comments. This issue is
> especially vital at an academic school such as ours, where it seems to
be
> one of the first questions students ask me.
>
> As VITTA President, I have mentioned this fact at countless industry
> meetings and forums - so can assure you that I have been lobbying for
this
> to be changed. It doesn't seem to have had a big effect though - I
don't
> know if this year it will be any different?
>
> The whole scaling system is itself quite derisive. I can understand
why
> it
> is done, but what it does in students eyes - is in effect - to rank
the
> relative merits of subjects against each other.
>
> Cheers,
> Adrian
>
> Adrian Janson,
> VITTA President
> Director of ICT,
> Melbourne High School,
> Forrest Hill, South Yarra 3141 Australia.
> Phone: 03 9826 0711 International: +61 3 9826 0711
> Fax: 03 9826 8767 International: +61 3 9826 8767
> E-mail: janson.adrian.a at edumail.vic.gov.au
> Website: http://www.mhs.vic.edu.au
>
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:sofdev-
> bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of David Dawson
> Sent: Thursday, 13 September 2007 1:37 PM
> To: sofdev at edulists.com.au
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 SofDev] Scaling - renamed
>
> 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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