News | 27 January 2023
IES welcomes planned central system for grading
Internationella Engelska Skolan has long called for a central system for grading national tests. For this reason, IES welcomes the fact that the government has today tasked the Swedish National Education Agency (Skolverket) with preparing the introduction of central correction for the essay sections of digital national tests in Swedish, Swedish as a second language, and English.
Anna Sörelius Nordenborg, CEO of Internationella Engelska Skolan, said: “Correct and fair grading is crucial for students to know where they stand in relation to the knowledge targets, and for admission to higher studies.”
Teachers, academic managers and principals at IES work every day to ensure as accurate and fair grading as possible. It is an ongoing process, and centrally graded national tests would facilitate this work. The results of the national tests are indicative of final grades and are taken into account in particular when teachers assign grades.
Subject teachers in IES schools follow a moderation process to ensure that grading is accurate and fair. In several parts of the country IES has also started a collaboration with municipal schools to compare grading and learn from one other.
The latest statistics from the Swedish National Education Agency (Skolverket) show that the deviation between the results of the national tests and the final grades is generally smaller at IES than for the country as a whole in terms of the core subjects English and mathematics. In the subject of Swedish, a downward deviation was noted, meaning IES gave a lower final grade than the result on the national test.
In the reassessment of the national tests carried out by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen) in 2018, the image was reinforced that IES' work with grading function well. Audited IES schools in most cases had a higher than average correlation between the school's grading and that of the inspectorate.
Ms Sörelius Nordenborg added: “A system with central correction of the national tests would further ensure fairness in assessment and make the work of IES and other school operators easier.”