This study compared models of assessment structure for achieving differentiation across the range of examinee attainment in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination taken by 16-year-olds in England. The focus was on the "adjacent levels" model, where papers are targeted at three specific non-overlapping ranges of…

The aim of this study was to compare models of assessment structure for achieving differentiation between examinees of different levels of attainment in the GCSE in England. GCSEs are high-stakes curriculum-based public examinations taken by 16 year olds at the end of compulsory schooling. The context for the work was an intense period of debate…

This paper discusses the issues involved in calculating indices of composite reliability for "modular" or "unitised" assessments of the kind used in GCSEs, AS and A level examinations in England. The increasingly widespread use of on-screen marking has meant that the item-level data required for calculating indices of…

In this paper we develop an evidence-based framework for considering many of the factors affecting marker agreement in GCSEs and A levels. A logical analysis of the demands of the marking task suggests a core grouping comprising: (i) question features; (ii) mark scheme features; and (iii) examinee response features. The framework synthesises…