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On 9th January Professor Christine Merrell, my dear friend and irreplaceable colleague of 25 years, died peacefully after a short illness...
Reading Time: Approx 3mins
We are starting the year off by going back to basics and looking at what our assessments are all about. When we were pulling this together we realised they can be very handily arranged alphabetically. So we present to you the ABC’s of CEM.
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More than 90% of the world’s schools have been affected by the pandemic this year. That’s hundreds of millions of students faced with school closures.
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I left teaching because there were ten-year-old children in tears over the SATs in my class. There were several other reasons why I walked away, but the SATs were my tipping point...
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This summer – this whole year – has been unprecedented in many ways. For those working in education and assessment, the challenges have been considerable...
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It’s a common complaint from students, teachers, the press, and even the odd politician: there’s just too much testing in schools...
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Teachers are not fortune tellers or magicians despite the wonders they can often work...
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At CEM, we make predictions by applying statistical techniques to the data we have on the exam performances and baseline measures of students...
Reading Time: Approx 3mins
The COVID-19 crisis has caused widespread school closures in 188 countries and 1.7 billion children, young people and their families have been disrupted as a direct result (OECD, 2020)...
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As the new school year draws near, many teachers will be planning the ‘educational journey’ for their new students, and knowing precisely where all of your students are starting from is invaluable...
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We know only too well the transformative power a good teacher can have. Where would we be without the positive influence of our favourite teachers?...
Podcast Duration: Approx 17mins
Katharine Bailey is Director of Policy here at CEM, and for many years she has been working with schools and governments in the UK and around the world, helping them to use assessment data for pupil and school improvement...
Video Duration: Approx 42mins
At the end of December, Professor Peter Tymms retired from his role as a Director of CEM.
In 1996, Peter and Professor Carol Taylor-Fitzgibbon brought CEM to Durham University where it grew from a small and focussed research centre to one of the most influential organisations in the field of educational assessment and research – a position that it still holds today...
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Although I now have the luxury of not being accountable to Ofsted, for ten years as a primary headteacher I attempted to navigate the shifting sands of successive inspection frameworks, coming under pressure from various stakeholders to achieve the coveted (by some) ‘outstanding’ judgement.
Since Amanda Spielman assumed the role of Ofsted’s Chief Inspector in January of this year, I have been greatly encouraged and reassured by the tone and focus of her speeches and how this differs to her predecessor...
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The contribution of schooling to learning gains of pupils in year 1 to 6
Using longitudinal data from our PIPS and InCAS assessments, we have been able to explore this question...
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Moving from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 can be a big upheaval for many pupils. Schools work hard to ease the transition with a range of policies, plans, mechanisms and strategies. But do they always work...