Dodgy SAC business

[guestos123]

Hi all 

I just wanna start off by acknowledging how paranoid this may sound, but I assure you that I have good reason.

I believe that one of my teachers may construct the SAC ranking according to his perception of how it should be. I'm worried that my own position in the cohort may not be reflective of my SAC scores relative to the rest of the cohort.

Essentially, I was wondering whether the ranking submitted by teachers has to be solely based on SACs. Hypothetically, if at the end of the year I bought my statement of marks and study score and the SAC scores submitted by my teacher were not equivalent to the results I achieved, would I be able to pursue this with the school/VCAA and have this amended?

Again, I know this may sound incredibly distrustful, but I DO have good reason to believe this is going on.

Thanks so much for any help!!
                                                         

[appleandbee]

Hi all 

I just wanna start off by acknowledging how paranoid this may sound, but I assure you that I have good reason.

I believe that one of my teachers may construct the SAC ranking according to his perception of how it should be. I'm worried that my own position in the cohort may not be reflective of my SAC scores relative to the rest of the cohort.

Essentially, I was wondering whether the ranking submitted by teachers has to be solely based on SACs. Hypothetically, if at the end of the year I bought my statement of marks and study score and the SAC scores submitted by my teacher were not equivalent to the results I achieved, would I be able to pursue this with the school/VCAA and have this amended?

Again, I know this may sound incredibly distrustful, but I DO have good reason to believe this is going on.

Thanks so much for any help!!
                                                         

Changing SAC ranks happens very rarely, and for particular reasons most of time (remember that teachers are held accountable by VCAA too, which is why they need to keep the records). This is usually done in exceptional cases, a student has a strong chance of getting a 50 SS but didn't do too well in one SAC so loses the top ranking marginally. I'm not saying whether it is the right thing to do or not but I'm not sure if VCAA can do anything about it.

[guestos123]

Changing SAC ranks happens very rarely, and for particular reasons most of time (remember that teachers are held accountable by VCAA too, which is why they need to keep the records). This is usually done in exceptional cases, a student has a strong chance of getting a 50 SS but didn't do too well in one SAC so loses the top ranking marginally. I'm not saying whether it is the right thing to do or not but I'm not sure if VCAA can do anything about it.

I understand the rarity of such instances and in the example you specified, such an amendment seems somewhat necessary. My question is more-so based around the idea of whether or not anything can be done, should an inconsistency be observed from a statement of marks. For example, I happen to know that my SAC results (of which I am pleased) for each assessment throughout the year for this subject. However, should I find out at the end of the year that the SAC marks submitted by my teacher were lower than what I achieved, as a means of preserving the teacher's ideal ranking, would it be possible to communicate with the school/VCAA to have this adjusted?

[meganrobyn]

Teachers don't submit SAC rankings: they submit the score received by each student for each AOS (which may be one SAC, or a composite of multiple). They're not supposed to alter them at all, except through cross-marking (so, maintaining consistency and fairness and not just making wilful, arbitrary changes).

I don't know what info you get on your statement of marks, but if it's the post-moderation SAC scores, especially a letter grade and not a number, that won't really help you.

I would always try to deal with things on a local level first, and see how it goes before escalating. Maybe go to your academic coordinator or some equivalent and say that you were hoping to see the marks that were submitted to VCAA for you for each AOS. They must just tell you and then you'll get peace of mind either way.

[guestos123]

Teachers don't submit SAC rankings: they submit the score received by each student for each AOS (which may be one SAC, or a composite of multiple). They're not supposed to alter them at all, except through cross-marking (so, maintaining consistency and fairness and not just making wilful, arbitrary changes).

I don't know what info you get on your statement of marks, but if it's the post-moderation SAC scores, especially a letter grade and not a number, that won't really help you.

I would always try to deal with things on a local level first, and see how it goes before escalating. Maybe go to your academic coordinator or some equivalent and say that you were hoping to see the marks that were submitted to VCAA for you for each AOS. They must just tell you and then you'll get peace of mind either way.

Thank you for the response - I have previously acquired statement of marks/study score which display both the pre-moderated and post-moderated SAC scores. I intend to receive the statement again this year, and it will become very obvious to me whether or not my SACs have been tampered with. Basically, if there is a discrepancy between the scores submitted to VCAA and those that I actually achieved, is it possible to do anything about it?

[Auralee]

I find it extremely unlikely that a teacher would do what you're suggesting.  I'm not saying you should rule it out, but I cannot stress how rigorous the recording of SAC marks/ranking is by schools for VCAA. I've heard teachers talking about spread sheets and all kinds of other tools they use for this recording.  They KNOW how important it is and that serious penalties apply should they disobey the rules laid out by VCAA. Be aware that the nature of this accusation is quite a serious one.

Please also remember that SACs at schools are subject to change by VCAA. I remember opening my statement of results from VCAA last year and saw many of my 'scores' had been adjusted by VCAA. You may have heard of schools setting very hard SACs for some mathematics subjects, then getting scaled up at the end of the year.

I don't know how you anticipate being able to see how your results have been tampered with.... Seriously I was just passing my methods sacs and VCAA scaled them up to B+ on my statement of results.

[guestos123]

I find it extremely unlikely that a teacher would do what you're suggesting.  I'm not saying you should rule it out, but I cannot stress how rigorous the recording of SAC marks/ranking is by schools for VCAA. I've heard teachers talking about spread sheets and all kinds of other tools they use for this recording.  They KNOW how important it is and that serious penalties apply should they disobey the rules laid out by VCAA. Be aware that the nature of this accusation is quite a serious one.

Please also remember that SACs at schools are subject to change by VCAA. I remember opening my statement of results from VCAA last year and saw many of my 'scores' had been adjusted by VCAA. You may have heard of schools setting very hard SACs for some mathematics subjects, then getting scaled up at the end of the year.

I don't know how you anticipate being able to see how your results have been tampered with.... Seriously I was just passing my methods sacs and VCAA scaled them up to B+ on my statement of results.

Just to be clear, it is possible to obtain both the pre-moderated and post-moderated results - I am absolutely sure of this. Given that SACs for this subject are out of 50 (with each SAC worth 5/10), I will be aware whether or not my results have been incorrectly submitted.

I think maybe you have misunderstood my post - I am not accusing any teacher of wrongdoing, I am simply enquiring about potential strategies to approach such a dilemma if it were to arise. Please do understand that I'm not pointing the finger.

[Litigator]

I used to lurk these forums and im pretty sure theres a guy in here who got a 46 for methods, but they didnt send VCAA the right sac marks and VCAA resolved it and it was changed into a 50. Dont know his name but he got alot of 50s in his signature lol

[Auralee]

I didn't mean to come off so harsh. If I did, I apologise. I'm sure if you did have any concerns that you could contact the VCAA, I'd probably just be a bit wary of saying 'I think my teacher may have done this...'. 

Correct me if I'm wrong also, but your exam performance could alter the rank. If there are people who do better/worse than you on the exam they could potentially take 'your spot' in the ranking. You won't have access to the results/ performance of your peers in your cohort.