What should we want from GCSEs & A levels?

A new look at standards: What should we want from GCSEs and A levels? Presentation by Tim Oates Group Director Assessment Research and Development (ARD) 13 October 2011

Complex systems
Our partial data refer to epiphenomena; we need to apprehend deep structures and concealed trends
We need to understand examinations in the context of ‘curriculum coherence’
Careful thinking or split thinking? We need to understand the limits of our sphere of action (modesty and self-control) but simultaneously the extent of impact and dependencies (sophistication in understanding and in strategic planning)

Exam system has grown into a monster
‘…” the volume of assessment has left awarding bodies overstretched, resulting in errors in questions, high dissatisfaction with marking and inconsistency in grades”…’
‘…” the volume of assessment over the final three years of secondary school … requires, if it is to be conducted as well as it possibly can be, a far greater application of resource”…’
‘… the OCR exam board awarded an A* to 19 per cent of HMC pupils for Physics, while for Edexcel the figure was almost 25 per cent. For Economics, AQA awarded and A* to 16 per cent of HMC candidates but for OCR the figure was 11 per cent…’.
Important locus of control issues embedded in this statement
Important implied and explicit models regarding standards
Times 07 Sept 2011 Kenneth Durham University College School Hampstead/HMC

The Cambridge Standards Debate
Have we moved on?

Why the debate?
The existence of mechanisms for possible subtle grade drift
Evidence from diverse sources – enough to stimulate anxiety

Promoting clarity
standards of demand
content standards
standards of attainment
standards over time
standards between specifications
standards between subjects
standards between types of qualifications
teaching standards and standards of education

Mechanisms
A period of constant change in structure and content
Removal of bias, enhancement of accessibility and transparency of assessments
Benefit of the doubt
Increased support via mark schemes, text books
Emphasis on inclusion
Focus on attainment – solely on ‘exam performance’
Modularisation and complex routes
Changing cohorts, subject choice
Massive investment in education

Where to, from here?
We should understand, with precision, the impact of efforts to improve standards of attainment
Reduce the frequency and scope of change in qualifications
Qualifications should be owned through partnership between schools, Higher Education, employers and awarding bodies
Fitness for purpose, clarity of purpose and validity – pre-eminent concerns for determining standards

The purposes and functions of qualifications
Documenting outcomes of learning
Supporting specific, valid inference(s) regarding the candidates’ possession of specific knowledge, skills and/or understanding
Signalling
Valuation of different aspects of knowledge, skills and understanding
Discrimination and selection
Controlling flows into specific occupations and regulating the labour market
Empowering citizens
Realigning the control of professions
Measuring the level of skills and knowledge in the national, sectoral system
Measuring the performance of the education system

Ensuring linkage of content of programmes (training) to work
Recognising the actual knowledge, skills and competences required in performance
Fill gaps and update requirements in knowledge, skills and competences
Guaranteeing the quality of provision for learners
Guaranteeing the quality of provision for funding agencies
Affecting the identity of learners
Effecting social integration
Conferring status on qualified individuals
Processes of recognition, accreditation and ‘valuation’ of prior learning
Managing competences within enterprises

Offering inclusion
Providing orientation, guidance
Controlling the education and training system generally and the qualifications system specifically
Enacting reform in education and training
Influencing the content of learning programmes
Conditioning or shaping pedagogy
Conditioning or shaping assessment
Developing zones of mutual trust (between users of qualifications)
Providing an accountability mechanism
Invoking specific models of competence

Giving status to institutional/provider offering
Shifting control from one agency to another
Shifting control for assessment in the system
Protecting the content, standing and identity of a profession
Providing feedback to learners (formative and diagnostic function)
Helping teachers and trainers understand the strengths and weaknesses of their provision (evaluative function)
Introducing innovation
Protecting consumers
Delivering public benefits
Meeting international licensing requirements

A thousand tiny steps…
Access, defensibility, and efficiency
(drift in item forms)
Standards maintenance – the magnitude of ‘movement’
(drift in attainment standards)
Content standards/validity
(drift in validity, currency, credibility and learning progression)

The interaction of public understanding and policy
The shock and horror of ‘error’
‘ Measurement accuracy’ – monitoring it, reducing it
Dylan Wiliam: ‘….80 hour exams should do it…’
How long would you like assessment to be, what do you want them to look like, what do you want them to cost?
Instruction-sensitive assessment

A/AS level examinations Bassett, D. 2011. Inside Government Forum. Reform of National Exams: Impact on schools and students . 7 July. One Great George Street, Westminster. Briefing notes, BN43 (2009), IFS Candidates Entries Papers Cost (includes correction for inflation) Expenditure on education in England 1970 103,000 (£89.32) 441,898 (£20.82) 643,750 (£14.29) £9.2m £28bn 1990 185,000 (£102.16) 615,725 (£30.70) 1,388,250 (£13.61) £18.9m £45bn 2000 231,351 (£131.83) 672,518 (£45.35) 2,168,916 (£14.06) £30.5m £52bn 2008 256,622 (£275.50) 741,356 (£95.37) 5,455,655 (£12.96) £70.7m £80bn

The race to the bottom
What is worse?
for it to be present but not detect it; the ‘total ignorance ’ option
for the public to think that it occurs but it does not (and we cannot demonstrate that it does not); the ‘ innocent imprisoned ’ option
to have it, to not be committed to quantifying it, nor to having policy to arrest it; the ‘ defiantly irresponsible ’ option
A key claim regarding regulation is removal and/or prevention of competition on standards

A new look at standards: What should we want from GCSEs and A levels? Presentation by Tim Oates Group Director Assessment Research and Development (ARD) 13 October 2011

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What should we want from GCSEs & A levels?

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What should we want from GCSEs & A levels? Presentation Transcript