Black, Paul; Wiliam, Dylan; (2002) Standards in Public Examinations. King's College London, London, UK.

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Abstract

The term ‘standard’ is used to describe both the performance standard (what individuals have to do) and the achievement standard (how many individuals manage to do this). Failure to distinguish between these two meanings has been a frequent source of confusion. / • Performance standards are, in general, being maintained, albeit on the basis of different demands, and achievement standards are almost certainly rising, although some of this could be due to greater ‘teaching towards the test’. / • The public examination system has been remarkably stable over the last 50 years, although long-standing tensions over the suitability of separate academic and vocational ‘tracks’ have still to be resolved. • Examination results are affected by ability, effort, teaching, syllabus, test quality, marking and grading, only the last four of which are currently the concern of examination groups. • The core of the assessment system has been, and remains the professional judgement of communities of examiners. Although the judgements of these examiners are neither norm- nor criterion-referenced, the continuity in the examining procedures has been the crucial element in maintaining performance standards over time. No combination of mechanical rules and/or statistical manipulations can replace this dependence of the assessment system on human judgements. / • There are no technical solutions to the issue of comparability of examinations, whether this is between syllabuses, between examining groups, between subjects, or over time. Ultimately comparability rests on public trust in the examination system. / • More attention should be paid to the interpretations that are made of examination results. Those who use examination results to draw conclusions about individual students, or the performance of schools, should understand that examination results are of limited reliability and validity, and that they cannot be taken at face value. / • There is bound to be a finite probability of error in any examination result. It would be possible to obtain a measure of such probabilities, but the research required has not been undertaken./ • The lack of well researched data on the reliability and validity of examinations means that has not been possible to optimise the design of the system. In consequence, too much confidence has been placed in the results of external testing and too little in the potential value of school based assessments

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