TEACHERS ASSESSMENTS AND GCE RESULTS COMPARED

Teachers' assessments of their own pupils were collected for 96 separate groups of GCE candidates who were being prepared for a wide range of examination subjects. These assessments were in the form of predicted O- and A- level GCE grades for the whole sample of 1,892 candidates, and rank orders of- ability for each separate group. These assessments were compared with actual GCE results, and differences were followed up by a scrutiny, conducted by the teachers, of their own pupils' examination work. Higher than expected grades were explained by better than expected performances in the examination, whereas lower than expected grades were explained either by worse than expected performances in the examination or by a difference in standards between the teachers and the examiners. Other essential differences between the teachers' assessments and external examination assessments were confirmed. © 1979, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.