In fall 2020, Ireland’s Department of Education announced that two errors had been found in the algorithm used to calculate students’ Leaving Certificate exam grades. The exams, normally held in person, were replaced with an algorithmically generated score in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to errors in the calculation, more than 6,000 students received grades lower than they should have, while approximately 8,000 received higher marks. The Department of Education has announced that students whose grades were incorrectly inflated will not be denied admission to third-tier universities.

In fall 2020, Ireland’s Department of Education announced that errors in the algorithm used to calculate students’ Leaving Certificate exam grades resulted in thousands of inaccurate scores.

Minor

Harm to social or political systems

Ireland's Department of Education and Skills algorithmic internal model for projecting student's final exam scores.

Irish Department of Education and Skills

Education

Cognition

machine learning

statistical projection

Ireland

Irish Department of Education and Skills, Norma Foley

Irish Department of Education and Skills

2020-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

2020-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

Harm caused

Accident

No

student's class and exam grades