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It also covers innovative assessment approaches, examiner reliability monitoring, and the balance between strict marking guidance and professional judgement.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/","Exam",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/how-does-aqa-deliver-high-quality-assessment-high-quality-assessment-process/620125/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/how-does-aqa-deliver-high-quality-assessment-high-quality-assessment-process/620125.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Valentina","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-06","2026-10-20",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How does AQA use research in its assessment process?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"AQA uses research evidence to shape each step of assessment, including question paper and mark scheme design. An on-site team at the Centre for Education Research and Practice (CERP) informs how quality is built from the earliest stages.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What makes assessments valid in AQA’s approach?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Validity is supported by ensuring questions test the intended skill rather than understanding of the surrounding context. Real-life contexts must be phrased in a particular way, culturally specific concepts should be avoided, and topics should not alienate particular audiences.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How does AQA balance consistency with examiner judgement?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"AQA creates strict marking schemes for subjective tasks and continuously monitors marker compliance. At the same time, the examiner is given scope for professional judgement to decide the mark that best reflects the quality of the work.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},620125,1792546842,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,95,100,105,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":33,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":110,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":117,"preview_page_count":4},13056703020460,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/be000253dac470eee5d?_k=1778207105932848923","Getting the right result  \nBuilding quality into the assessment process  \nFind out more at:  \n[cerp.org.uk](cerp.org.uk)  \nCentre for Education Research and Practice (CERP)  \nHow does AQA deliver high-quality assessment?  \nEach summer around 25,000 examiners mark 7.5 million of our GCSE and A-level examination papers. Ensuring that students receive the right results is of paramount importance, and the process begins months – or even years – before the candidates enter the exam hall. Research evidence shapes every step of the assessment process: AQA has an on-site team of academics based at its Centre for Education Research and Practice (CERP) and their work informs question paper and mark scheme design to build in quality from the earliest stages. All the research papers referenced in this booklet are available to download [from](from cerp.org.uk)[ cerp.org.uk](from cerp.org.uk).  \nThe basics  \nThe exam specification – previously called the syllabus – is based on criteria provided by the Department for Education and accredited by Ofqual. It is written by our team of subject experts and forms the basis for our question papers and mark schemes. Using our own data, we have shown that the design of mark schemes can impact on how effectively we can identify good  \nresponses (Effective discrimination in mark schemes, Anne Pinot de Moira) . When there are major changes to GCSEs and A-levels, each qualification needs a new specification and work starts on this over a year before it is accredited. At each stage of development, we share our proposals with teachers and wider stakeholders, and feed their comments back into the development process. Once we have decided on the best option to take forward, we begin to create the detailed content for the specification.  \nFair assessments  \nWe draw on a wide range of research to ensure that our question papers test the full spectrum of candidates’ abilities. This enables examiners to establish the relative  \nCENTRE FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH AND PRACTICE  \nSkills that are hard to assess  \nEmployers and businesses increasingly expect young people to leave school with skills such as working collaboratively in groups and problem solving. These skills, though valued by the education world, are difficult to measure: options including peer and selfassessment raise validity issues.  \nWe have investigated innovative approaches to assessments that are designed to elicit evidence on how well students can solve problems and apply knowledge. For example, we have examined the reliability and validity of approaches such as ‘adaptive comparative judgement’ to  \nthe assessment of complex performances. We are continuing to explore such approaches in relation to assessing the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), a qualification valued by many universities as an indication of students’ aptitude for the kinds of independent research and analysis skills that are needed for success in higher education. (Using adaptive comparative judgement to obtain a highly reliable rank order in summative assessment, Claire Whitehouse and Alastair Pollitt; Testing the validity of judgements about geography essays using the adaptive comparative judgement method, Claire Whitehouse.)  \ndifficulty of questions across an individual paper, as well as all the other assessments that make up the qualification. It’s important that qualifications allow candidates to perform well in some questions and less well in others, and still achieve a total mark that accurately represents  \ntheir performance. AQA’s research team has been investigating this practice since the late 1980s (Setting common examination papers that differentiate, Frances Good) and our findings have informed both the inception and development of GCSEs.  \nValid assessments  \nWe closely monitor how questions are written to be certain that they test what we mean to test. Evidence has shown that questions that use real-life contexts (for example adding up the total cost of items in ","cbCainuSJ06rx7Gm","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainuSJ06rx7Gm","pdf",253893,"English","# The basics\n## The exam specification and mark scheme design\n# Fair assessments\n## Adaptive comparative judgement and EPQ\n# Valid assessments\n## Real-life contexts and accessibility\n# Relevant assessments\n## Tasks across skills and subjects\n# The human element\n## Marking schemes, compliance, and judgement","[{\"question\":\"How does AQA use research in its assessment process?\",\"answer\":\"AQA uses research evidence to shape each step of assessment, including question paper and mark scheme design. An on-site team at the Centre for Education Research and Practice (CERP) informs how quality is built from the earliest stages.\"},{\"question\":\"What makes assessments valid in AQA’s approach?\",\"answer\":\"Validity is supported by ensuring questions test the intended skill rather than understanding of the surrounding context. Real-life contexts must be phrased in a particular way, culturally specific concepts should be avoided, and topics should not alienate particular audiences.\"},{\"question\":\"How does AQA balance consistency with examiner judgement?\",\"answer\":\"AQA creates strict marking schemes for subjective tasks and continuously monitors marker compliance. At the same time, the examiner is given scope for professional judgement to decide the mark that best reflects the quality of the work.\"}]","How does AQA deliver high-quality assessment? - High-quality assessment process | PDF",1792463684]