“All documents should be checked for personal information before being made available on a website. This case also highlights the importance of organisations having comprehensive data protection training in place for all staff.
“It is vital that schools, colleges and universities introduce robust systems to handle their pupils’ information on electronic and paper based systems in compliance with the Data Protection Act and we will continue to work with those in the education sector to ensure they are keeping young peoples’ details secure.”
CCEA: The “basket case” in the “last chance saloon”
June 30, 2011
Gavin Boyd has described his current CCEA role as “voluntary”. He just happens to be paid £150,000 per annum for his altruism. In testimony to the Northern Ireland Education Committee he claimed to have been brought in to the organisation “to raise standards in the organisation” and “drive up efficiencies”. Consider the following and decide if Mr Boyd’s affinity for self-assessment and an extensive proclivity for profligacy could be behind his frequent lapses in judgement.
Incas and Sparkebox: FOI revelations “without them knowing there were any problems”
February 9, 2010
For those parents suggesting that Incas assessment scores should be used to determine admission to grammar schools instead of objective testing of attainment- a note of caution from PACE.
When the problems surrounding the expensive CEM software failures were first raised in late 2009 PACE obtained confidential communications from the Incas team to CCEA using the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ( FOI).
“What we would like to do is to extract the relevant files from the schools’ file servers automatically without having to contact the schools directly. We understand that C2k can access files on the schools’ file servers directly. If we can have these files forwarded to us, perhaps through some secure ftp method, we can update schools’ feedback without them knowing there were any problems.”
“It is also worth noting that the subscale scores are for information for teachers, not for parents.”
The Department of Education also cautioned against Incas.
The deputy secretary of the Department of Education, Robson Davison, wrote to the chairs of the board of governors and principals of schools setting the new entrance exams.
“It is important that I remind schools that such practice would be an inappropriate use of outcomes from an assessment tool that was neither designed nor intended for such a purpose.”
He also told them there were problems with the scoring awarded to pupils in InCAS because of a computer error.
“The department’s advice is that on no account should grammar schools consider using InCAS assessment outcomes reported to parents to inform decisions on selection.”
So while parents are crying out for accurate information on the results of transfer tests they are being kept in the dark by unaccountable educationalists profiting from testing activities.
and a further concern ….
Sparkebox link to DENI and C2k
http://www.deni.gov.uk/ministers-statement-sparklebox-080210-english.pdf
Sparklebox was originally blocked in late 2009 by councils. Concerns over the sites security were cited in an email to teachers explaining the block. Originally many teachers were confused and some angered over the block, as it was a site that many relied on for essential classroom resources. Kent County Council issued a statement confirming the block, “we feel it right to block the site centrally until more information is available and review whether this site should be blocked permanently after consulting schools and other sources.”
It seems that the Minister, Caitriona Ruane, her Department and computer infrastructure team, C2k must not have accessed the internet in early January otherwise they could not have missed the following post http://www.neowin.net/news/main/10/01/14/uk-schools-blocking-sparklebox-as-owner-is-a-paedo
Are you confident in your child’s security with computers at school or reassured by the Minister’s statement?
Department of Education warn about Incas use
December 16, 2008
Pupil Profile and Incas to combine in DENI deceit
December 13, 2008
After poor evaluations by teachers and parents the CCEA Pupil Profile has failed its intended purpose. However the DENI and CCEA do not admit defeat – no matter how wrong they are .
To stave off criticisms of Gavin Boyd’s appalling track record , an attempt will be made to include Incas into the Pupil Profile. A silk purse will be constructed out of another invalid and unreliable instrument pretending to possess properties it does not contain.
During workshops and focus groups organised by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) to evaluate the profiles, a large number of principals, teachers and parents did not rate the content of the profiles highly.
Parents’ main criticism was that the profiles did not contain grades/marks or a comparison with their child’s peers and that they deemed this to be an essential component of any school report. Many also stated that they found them “bland” and “impersonal”.
Incas (from the CEM at the University of Durham) will be claimed to address the problem in an attempt to avoid attacks on the establishment of ESA (which includes CCEA)
HOWEVER
Information from the CEM web site on Incas Q & A states:
* Once governors and parents see this kind of information we will have a very hard time.
How people use the InCAS information is crucial. It is intended for professional use within schools and not for external consumption. If it were ever linked to promotion, or pay, or parental choice of schools or anything of importance which was not under the control of schools the project would be in trouble. As W. Edwards Deming said “Where there is fear you get the wrong figures”.
The DENI are quite familiar with misusing figures. Parents have every right to distrust utterances of reassuarance.
The attempt to combine the failed Pupil Profile with Incas can have only one outcome: failure.
