The Problem of Assessing 'On' or 'Off' Track

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The Problems with Assessing 'On' or 'Off' Track

At GCSE level, many teachers are still expected to track whether a pupil is ‘on target’ to achieve their expected grade. The problem with this is we cannot accurately say if a pupil is ‘on track’.

Inevitable subconscious bias

Firstly, when teachers make a judgement about pupils work, there is the inevitability of subconscious bias, as explained by the economist Daniel Kahneman.
- He identifies a particular form of bias, the anchoring effect, which he believes occurs when we try to think of a value for an unknown quantity before estimating that quantity.
When teachers assess a piece of work for a child that we have taught for a length of time, we introduce bias into the process.

Summative assessments

When pupils complete an in-school summative assessment, like an end of topic test, end of year exam or a mock exam, this will usually be based on one paper or several components of the subject.
The problem with suggesting that a pupil is on or off ‘track’ from these summative assessments is highlighted in the following slides.

Problems with on/off track

Pupils will be preparing for one aspect of their GCSE rather than the whole course.
Pupils may already know what parts of the subject are being assessed in the school assessment.
Teachers are using historical grade boundaries, which are set based on the performance of a cohort in each examination series.
Teachers may not have the expertise when applying mark schemes and, therefore, suggested grade outcomes from these summative assessments will likely be inaccurate.

Problems with on/off track (cont.)

The assessment could be completed in a classroom environment that won’t represent the same conditions that pupils will be exposed to for their actual examinations.
Teachers may set up assessments that provide students with too much or too little time to complete, which is not representative of the real examination

Summary of problems

Therefore, it is difficult for teachers to know if a pupil is going to achieve a specific grade or if they are in fact working at a specific grade at different checkpoints along their GCSE journey.
There needs be a culture shift to modify how assessment is used in schools for it to be a decisive pedagogy tool that supports the facilitation of learning rather than for accountability or driving school improvement.