‘AGBU has… focused its attention on MEI’s recent educational performance…. if MEI’s current structure provided exceptional opportunities to its students as it had done in the past, substantial subsidization under those circumstances would be warranted. Unfortunately, this is not the case…’

                                                                                                   AGBU Central Board

                                                                                                    16^th March, 2004

Focused attention? Focus on this…

MELKONIAN SCHOOL GCSE RESULTS GRADUATING CLASS 2004

(In the UK, a widely accepted benchmark of high academic achievement for individual students is 5 or more GCSEs at grade C or above. The percentage candidates with 5 or more grade C or above GCSE passes in the UK is 50% (2003). The percentage students with 5 or more grade C or above passes in the Melkonian graduating class is 63%, well above th e average for non-selective schools.)

MELKONIAN SCHOOL GCE A LEVEL RESULTS GRADUATING CLASS 2004

Notes:

The National % pass rates (2004) at each grade are the highest ever recorded at higher grades for England & Wales; the % pass rates at these grades at Melkonian are broadly similar to England & Wales national rates, despite the fact that Melkonian is a non-selective school, whose students have English as their third language.

This in itself is a remarkable achievement, but one which has become ‘normal’ over recent years; indeed, so much so, that the award of the School Diploma is now firmly tied to the rigorous requirements of GCSE and AS/A level examination courses. A Melkonian Diploma is certainly worth the paper it is written on, reflecting internationally recognised standards of achievement.

The total of 80 A level passes was achieved by 32 graduating students (2004); this is an average of 2.5 full A level passes per student. GCE A levels remain the ‘gold standard’ for secondary education in the UK and worldwide are a recognised high level of secondary school achievement.

Although there is a great deal of autonomy for universities in the British system of university entry, a typical entrance requirement to a very good university course, where demand is great, would be 3 C grades or above; 9 of the 2004 graduates at Melkonian achieved this. Of the remainder, all but 6 achieved grades which would gain entry to an undergraduate course in the UK without need for a foundation college course.

A level results are criterion based, not norm-referenced (i.e. if a candidate meets the specified criteria for a certain grade, that grade is awarded, irrespective of the scores and results of other candidates). This is a point often not well understood, especially by our American colleagues, who are more familiar with norm-referenced systems and grade point averages; indeed, much misunderstanding arises from the fact that, whilst in the USA a grade C (and certainly grades D and E) are regarded as ‘average to poor’, these grades at A level carry good credit and mark a good level of achievement for the 16-18 age group.

MELKONIAN SCHOOL GCE A/S LEVEL RESULTS 2004

Notes:

GCE AS level award is the ‘halfway’ award made for those who do not go on to the full A level, or who fail to make the required standards for A level passes. Therefore, it would be usual for high grade award students at AS level to go on to achieve at least a low grade A level pass (and therefore not register for an AS award). This means that the actual AS grades ‘cashed in’ are skewed towards the lower grade awards. For this reason, the GCE boards in the UK do not publish national averages for this examination.

At Melkonian, the AS award has proved very useful for those students of more modest academic ability who wish to continue their education into the 6^th and 7^th years. They have been able to attempt levels which are higher than GCSE (designed for 16 year olds), but not beyond reach (as A level standards have often proven to be in the past for some students at Melkonian). In 2004, 50 AS passes were awarded to Melkonian students who, in the past, would have probably gone away with no externally recognised award from their 6^th and 7^th form years. AS level awards are recognised as half an A level award.

When analysing the achievements of students at Melkonian, the following must be borne in mind:

• In the UK, many students leave school at 16; their alternatives include employment (often with employer-based training and career structure); colleges of further education (mainly focussed on vocational training and apprenticeship) and, later, mature entry to higher education via the foundation course system.

• Of those that choose to stay on for 16-18 education (6^th and 7^th form in the UK are optional, not compulsory), many do not enter on to academic A/AS level courses; rather they focus on vocational and technical courses with NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) examination awards.

• The net result is that, in the UK, AS/A level courses are undertaken by approximately only 40% of each successive age group.

• At Melkonian, all 6^th and 7^th formers enter on to AS/A level courses, irrespective of their perceived ability; remember that Melkonian is virtually non-selective as far as academic ability is concerned, so the ability range of those embarking on A level courses is generally wider than would be the norm in the UK, yet achievements are up with national averages in the UK.

• Additionally, 6^th and 7^th form students in the UK have a much less demanding curriculum commitment than students at Melkonian, where there are of course commitments to Armenian Language and History, other ‘home’ languages and English and Maths through to the age of 18. None of these are requirements for A level students in the UK.

• The achievements of Melkonian graduates are testament to the quality of teaching and the quality of learning going on at the school; the standards achieved reflect an educational performance of which the school can be justly proud.

Such educational performance and the exceptional opportunities thus provided for Melkonian graduates warrants substantial subsidy…

 ….unfortunately, this is not the case.