{"id":53660,"date":"2020-08-20T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T15:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=53660"},"modified":"2020-08-19T15:22:28","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T22:22:28","slug":"learning-from-exam-results-crisis-the-way-students-work-is-assessed-needs-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-from-exam-results-crisis-the-way-students-work-is-assessed-needs-to-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning from exam results crisis: the way students\u2019 work is assessed needs to change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This year\u2019s\u00a0school results<\/a>\u00a0in England have highlighted how a narrow focus on so-called academic standards can hide much greater issues of justice in how we assess student performance.<\/p>\n

The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare underlying problems \u2013 but these issues have existed for a long time.<\/p>\n

This is an opportunity to go back to some basic principles and devise a system which recognises the impact of assessment on individual young people and their future lives and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

Grade inflation<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Firstly, while the basic idea that assessment should be robust and credible is right, we have been wrong to accept successive government policies that equate standards solely with avoiding so-called grade inflation, where increased grades are assumed to\u00a0mean lower standards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The obsession with grade inflation assumes that past systems have always been right, and that they provide a \u201cgold standard\u201d by which to judge current and future generations of students. It is incompatible with any sense that social progress can be achieved through education.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the preoccupation with standards is deeply flawed because it is based on \u201cnorm-based assessment<\/a>\u201d, where results depend on where a student comes in a ranking. This was what the\u00a0algorithm<\/a>\u00a0developed by Ofqual\u00a0was based on<\/a>. An individual student\u2019s result is determined by how well other students do, rather than simply the quality of their work.<\/p>\n

Under norm-based assessment, the same piece of work could get an A one year and then a C the next, depending on its rank among other students\u2019 work. Even if you do believe that the purpose of assessment is to rank students \u2013 which I would dispute \u2013 then you can never attach a grade to that ranking because it has no constant meaning. The norm-based underpinnings of this year\u2019s algorithm meant that it was always fatally flawed.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Students in London protest about algorithm-moderated grades. I. Salci\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Another approach is to use \u201ccriteria-based assessment<\/a>\u201d. All pieces of work are judged against set criteria, such as knowledge of key facts or strength of argument. These criteria then link to a grade band and any work which meets the criteria gets that grade.<\/p>\n

This has two advantages. It ensures that assessment results genuinely relate to the individual student\u2019s performance. Secondly, it ensures a stability in standards. What an A stands for remains largely the same regardless of how many students achieve that standard in a given year.<\/p>\n

Ingrained inequalities<\/strong><\/h4>\n

We must also recognise that assessment is not neutral. Ingrained inequalities in society and our education system are magnified in our assessment approaches. The assumptions which shaped the algorithm used to adjust marks\u00a0benefited a certain type of student<\/a>: those who studied in smaller classes and took less mainstream subjects, such as Latin. In other words, already advantaged students were given further advantages.<\/p>\n

In addition, part of overcoming privilege is to break the link between prestige and actual achievement. Doing well in your results should mean that you have a stronger foundation for future learning or work and that you have more choices. Far too many students are taught to use their school results to\u00a0attend the most prestigious university<\/a>\u00a0they can \u2013 when another university may offer advantages they had not considered.<\/p>\n

Convincing students that the more prestigious their university, the better it must be, actually reduces the range of choice which their good results should have given them. And it is based on false premises, as research is clear that there is no link\u00a0between prestige and quality of education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finally, we should ask whether we have lost the educational function of assessment \u2013 and, for that matter, school itself. To see the final outcome of years of schooling in terms of simply abstract grades undermines the personal and intellectual growth that should be the focus of education. Are we so focused on the tests that we have lost sight of the education?<\/p>\n

As a society we have allowed the worst of all worlds to develop in terms of how and why we assess students\u2019 work. We have encouraged young people to define their entire self-worth and future prospects on a narrow assessment of their abilities. Then, to make it so much worse, we have broken the essential link between what an individual student has actually done and the mark they receive.<\/p>\n

Fixing this is the biggest lesson to learn from this year\u2019s crisis. We must get the fundamental principles of robust and just assessment in place and then find a system that can deliver that.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Jan McArthur is Senior Lecturer in Education and Social Justice at Lancaster University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s\u00a0school results\u00a0in England have highlighted how a narrow focus on so-called academic standards can hide much greater issues of justice in how we assess student performance. The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare underlying problems \u2013 but these issues have existed for a long time. This is an opportunity to go back to some basic […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":53661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[357333],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-53660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-student-assessment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLearning from exam results crisis: the way students\u2019 work is assessed needs to change - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-from-exam-results-crisis-the-way-students-work-is-assessed-needs-to-change\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning from exam results crisis: the way students\u2019 work is assessed needs to change - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This year\u2019s\u00a0school results\u00a0in England have highlighted how a narrow focus on so-called academic standards can hide much greater issues of justice in how we assess student performance. 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