Marks for SPag GCSE English Lit & using a scribe - dyslexia

[sidneypie]

Can anybody help or point me in the right direction on this one.
As I understand it the marks allocated for spelling, punctuation and grammar in GCSE English Lit. in the May/June exams in 2014 will be 5% of the final total. If you use a scribe that 5% is automatically deducted from your marks. Have I got that right? A friend says she has recently been told by her school that she will lose 25% of her marks for using a scribe, I can't believe this can be right.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Shootingatpigeons]

I don't know what is coming but even last year, 2012, I was told 6%of the marks were allocated for spelling, punctuation and grammar which my DD would effectively have to write off and focus on maximising marks elsewhere. I understood that under the Gove regime that figure was going up? I will be interested to see the answer. Between that and the revised regulations on extra time they really have it in for bright pupils with learning difficulties.

[creamteas]

As I understand it, it depends on the dictation. So if grammar and punctuation are part of the dictation, then they can get these marks. But they can never get the ones for spelling (unless they dictate letter by letter, but that would not be possible in the time allowed).

My DD was told that she can give general rules at the beginning (eg all new sentences to start with a capital letter) rather than have to say every single time.

So whilst 100% is never possible , it is possible not to lose all the SPaG marks.

[Xoanon]

sidney Is a scribe definitely needed? Is there time for your DC to get up to speed with a keyboard instead? My DD1 not only has dyspraxia, she had a badly damaged right hand during her GCSEs last year (dislocated fingers and ligament damage), she used a keyboard (which she uses in lessons all the time anyway) and she got full UMS for both English language and English Literature and there was no automatic losing of spelling marks because she was doing the spelling herself.

[SallyBear]

My DS is severely dyslexic and also has dyspraxia. I feel utterly depressed that he will be marked down for having necessary assistance in an exam, as he will never have great spelling or be able to write that quickly or fluidly. He has a scribe for lessons, plus a laptop. We are working on increasing his touch typing speed - which is a slow process. They tried to use Dragon Dictation in lessons but there was so much background noise that the SW crashed (why are classrooms so noisy?). The scribes have complained that they can't keep up with his dictation speed - so we have to work on the typing and try and find some sort of noise cancelling microphone & headset that will work with his dictation SW. He's only in yr 9, but as its a 3 year course that they're taking at his school, I am already mindful that he is going to need so much preparation ahead of sitting the GCSEs.

[NoComet]

I'm praying (and I don't pray) that Gove doesn't mess with extra time, before June 2014.

For DD1 it's an absolute godsend. Exams are very artificial things, in the real world of work (and even at uni) she will use spell checkers, dictation soft wear, friends and colleagues to proof.

Only in Gove's Victorian getto does anyone give marks for hand writing.

DH's is 100% illegible, part of his job is 'writing' incredibly complex technical reports, fortunately you can't email exercise books

In any case DD1 and many other DCs would not be so far behind with their writing if primaries offered decent SN support.

You can't cure dyslexia, but good phonics instruction and loads of structured spelling and simple English work would have helped. There are good programs out there, but I found them far too late.

[NoComet]

Software, that's the beauty of typing, stupid errors jump out at you. They don't show up in my or DDs scribble.

[camptownraces]

If the scribe cannot keep up with the speed of dictation, the school may be able to find a scribe who can type the script (this is permitted in GCSE and A-level).

[Shootingatpigeons]

starball Were you aware Gove has already messed with extra time, or do you mean mess with it more? We had an all out panic with weeks to go to AS levels because now extra time is denied unless your processing and working memory scores are in the below average range, my DDs were at the lowest end of the average range and it looked as if there was a possibility she would lose her extra time. We were busy putting together all the evidence of need we have had since Year 5 and brought forward the assessment she needed for her UCAS application. We will never know if the evidence of need would have persuaded the exam board because the scores in her latest assessment were at the bottom of the below average range.

The Ed Psych was spitting blood because as she says this directly discriminates against the brightest dyslexics, whilst tipping the field in favour of those who may have below average processing and working memory alongside below average ability. Ofqual recognise that as well.

If it is any comfort my DD was Goved with lower than predicted English grades at GCSE last year but just aced the ASs and has offers to study English at the RG unis she wanted. Speaking as a dyslexic academic myself strengths in holistic thinking, creative ideas etc start to come into their own once you get past the hurdle of GCSEs.

Xoanon she got full UMS for both English language and English Literature and there was no automatic losing of spelling marks because she was doing the spelling herself. That's rubbing it in a bit on a thread about dyslexia and losing SPAG marks ...............

[IndiansOnTheRailroad]

I think you meant he has already messed about with extra time unless you go to private school.

[Shootingatpigeons]

Indians How do you work that out? The regulations have tightened up for all pupils, state and private, in fact it was the bodies representing private schools, as well as Educational Psychologists who made representations to OFQUAL to highlight the discrimination, and got nowhere. I'll give you that some private schools support those with SpLDs better (and some deny they exist or squeeze pupils with them out) and for a bright pupil with a SpLD in a non selective state school it can be very hard to gain access to the right support, and of course the playing field tilts for all those at private schools in all sorts of ways that unis are getting better at compensating for, but sadly where Gove and OFQUAL are concerned it doesn't matter if you are state or private, if you have a SpLD they are intent on going back to the 70s when people like me were told the reason they couldn't spell and didn't do well in exams was because they were slow and stupid....

[mummyzauruz1]

Has anyone taken their offspring's summer OCR English Lit GCSE j360
A 662H EAR result to a Stage 1 or stage 2 appeal? Does anyone whose child sat this Exam realise that the SPAG element of the the A662H unit for my child's paper has not been marked in accordance with the terminology in the OCR Mark Scheme for SPAG? Has anyone got offspring who sat the English Lit GCSE with another Exam board? Have you by any chance had a copy of the paper returned? Do you know whether the SPAG element of the paper was marked in accordance with the terminology for SPAG in the Mark Scheme? I believe there may have been inconsistency in the marking of the SPAG element of the GCSE EnglishLit papers across Exam
boards. It would therefore help to have some feedback from anyone who may have any info on the matter....