Wiliam, D;
(2003)
National curriculum assessment: how to make it better.
Research Papers in Education
, 18
(2)
pp. 129-136.
10.1080/0267152032000081896.
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Abstract
In a series of papers ov er the last ten years, I have outlined various problems affecting the assessment of the national curriculum in England which are the subject of a critique by Paul Newton (this issue). In responding to this critique, I acknowledge that his summary of my position is fair, and agree that, by the standards of analytic rationality, the evidence for some of the problems I identify is not compelling. However, in response I argue that by standards of reasonableness (eg on the balance of probabilities) the evidence is sufficently serious to warrant a re-examination of national curriculum assessment, and the alternatives. In particular, I argue that the current system provides assessments that are not sufficiently reliable for the inferences that are made on the basis of the results and has also caused a narrowing of the curriculum. I propose that the first of these weaknesses can be addressed through the increased use of teacher assessment, and the second by increasing the range of the curriculum tested through testing a greater proportion of the curriculum. In order to effect these changes without increasing the burdern on students and teachers, I propose that these two changes are combined in the form of a light sampling scheme which would increase both the reliability and minimise the curricular backwash, although the price paid for this would be the lack of a direct, transparent and objective link between the results achieved by individual students on tests and the reported levels of a school?s performance.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | National curriculum assessment: how to make it better |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1080/0267152032000081896 |
Additional information: | This is an electronic version of an article published in Wiliam, Dylan (2003) National curriculum assessment: how to make it better. Research Papers in Education, 18 (2). pp. 129-136. Research Papers in Education is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/10.1080/0267152032000081896 |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1507170 |
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