Background: Large-scale randomised controlled trials (RCT) are relatively rare in education. The present study was an attempt to scale up previous small peer tutoring projects, while investing only modestly in continuing professional development for teachers. Purpose: A two-year RCT of peer tutoring in mathematics was undertaken in one local…

Discusses the criteria for an effective diagnotic assessment system. Describes efforts to produce a systematic, flexible assessment system for Foundation-level science. Presents a model for science practical skills, a categorized list of practical skills objectives, and some practical test items. Discusses the relationship between criteria and…

Changes in Scotland's curriculum have led to changes in student testing. A system of grade-related criteria has been developed--descriptions of expected performance in key aspects of a subject at different grade levels. (GDC)

Suggests that failure to learn is often the result of inappropriateness of level of instruction and deficiencies in instructional procedures and educational strategies, and differentiates between the functions of criterion referenced tests and diagnostic tests. Results are reported from two studies of the teaching of osmosis and photosynthesis.…

The comprehensive system of external examinations in Scotland has undergone major changes. The external examination system has been expanded to cover the entire secondary school curriculum. The examinations will now be administered to all students. The "continuum" model of criterion referenced tests has been adopted for the school…

From 1974 through 1978, three methods of assessing Scottish high school students' (O level) English achievement were studied: (1) Ordinary (O level) examinations; (2) assessment of writing skills (folio assessment); and (3) criterion referenced tests developed by the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) to measure the objectives of…

Describes a Scottish project--"School-based assessment using item banking"--investigating the feasibility of producing computer-based test marking and reporting facilities. Teachers would construct their own tests from item banks and carry out diagnostic assessment and criterion-referenced measurement to evaluate students with SCRIBE, a…

Describes design of an item bank for use with lower ability mathematics students in Scottish secondary schools. Aspects of bank usage discussed include raw score translation to measures on validated scales, test design for various purposes, and ways of recording and analyzing results. Test examples with corresponding outputs are given. (Author/MBR)

The implementation of a set of curriculum standards in Scottish public schools has raised some fears among Scottish teachers of English over whether such strict guidelines will impede the use of literary education to foster students' personal growth. Previously, freed from many curricular restrictions by a series of reforms in the 1960s and 1970s,…

A pilot study is reported of a generic method for tutoring in mathematics, intended to be suitable for use by peers, parents and volunteers in a wide range of applications. Thirty children aged 9-10 years of below average mathematical ability were randomly allocated to experimental or control conditions. Experimental tutees (n=17) were tutored in…