This is why I'm generally against grades with more than three levels.
I would like to see a system where almost all (something like 99 %?) of students just plain "pass". Then we have the lower statistical anomalies (lowest 0.5 %) and upper statistical anomalies (highest 0.5 %) which fail and get an "excellence" type grade.
If the average score is too low or too high, that doesn't mean more students fail or perform excellently, that just means the teacher needs to recalibrate.
(Of course, these percentiles ought to be measured over as inclusive a reference class as practical. Ideally across schools and years simultaneously.)
I would like to see a system where almost all (something like 99 %?) of students just plain "pass". Then we have the lower statistical anomalies (lowest 0.5 %) and upper statistical anomalies (highest 0.5 %) which fail and get an "excellence" type grade.
If the average score is too low or too high, that doesn't mean more students fail or perform excellently, that just means the teacher needs to recalibrate.
(Of course, these percentiles ought to be measured over as inclusive a reference class as practical. Ideally across schools and years simultaneously.)