Research and analysis

Systematic divergence between teacher and test-based assessment

A literature review regarding systematic divergence between results from teacher and test-based assessments.

Applies to England

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Systematic divergence between teacher and test-based assessment

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Ofqual’s equalities analyses last year concluded that the centre assessment grades (CAGs) of summer 2020 did not systemically disadvantage students on the basis of their protected characteristics or socioeconomic status, suggesting that the teacher judgements/predictions underlying CAGs in 2020 did not differ from the mainly exam-based assessments in 2018 and 2019 in susceptibility to bias. Given the conceptual distinction between teacher prediction of prospective performance and teacher assessment of current attainment, a further literature review was conducted this year on systematic divergence between results from teacher and test-based assessments, to raise awareness of potential risks to the dependability of assessment results which are based entirely on teacher judgements.

Updates to this page

Published 17 May 2021

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