Research library
Browse and search the library of research carried out by the Centre for Education Research and Practice, covering a wide range of topics across education and assessment.
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Effective discrimination in mark schemes
Effective assessment is often measured in terms of mark re-mark reliability: the extent to which the same mark would be awarded to a candidate by two different examiners or, alternatively, by the same examiner on two different occasions....
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Regulation and the qualifications market
The paper is in four main sections. “A theoretical framework from economics” introduces the conceptual framework of economics, in which the qualifications industry is seen as an operational market....
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An Item Response Theory approach to the maintenance of standards in public examinations in England
Every year outcomes from public examinations in the UK rise: politicians congratulate pupils on their hard earned achievement; the media questions whether this achievement is real; those responsible for administrating the examinations defend their standards; various subject councils and employers ...
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The effect of marker background and training on the quality of marking in GCSE English
Historically, in the UK, marker selection criteria for national examinations have been a matter of custom and practice. Only recently has empirical evidence of the effect of background on marking reliability begun to be gathered....
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Numbering nested questions
In line with the aim of simplifying and standardising the format of AQA‘s question papers, it has been proposed that all question papers should be numbered using a simple sequential system (i.e. 1, 2, 3… etc.)....
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Teachers' estimates of candidates' grades: Curriculum 2000 Advanced Level Qualifications
In the UK, estimated grades have long been provided to higher education establishments as part of their entry procedures. Since 1994 they have also been routinely collected by awarding bodies to facilitate the grade‐awarding process....
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What makes marking reliable? Experiments with UK examinations
Marking reliability is purported to be produced by having an effective community of practice. No experimental research has been identified which attempts to verify empirically the aspects of a community of practice that have been observed to produce marking reliability....
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The impact of re-sitting on the fairness of grading
One consideration in allowing re-sitting is that examinations are not perfectly reliable instruments. On any occasion a candidate may perform slightly better or worse depending on a number of chance factors related to their preparation and the test content....
