ERIC Number: EJ972641
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0969-594X
EISSN: N/A
The Method of Adaptive Comparative Judgement
Pollitt, Alastair
Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, v19 n3 p281-300 2012
Adaptive Comparative Judgement (ACJ) is a modification of Thurstone's method of comparative judgement that exploits the power of adaptivity, but in scoring rather than testing. Professional judgement by teachers replaces the marking of tests; a judge is asked to compare the work of two students and simply to decide which of them is the better. From many such comparisons a measurement scale is created showing the relative quality of students' work; this can then be referenced in familiar ways to generate test results. The judges are asked only to make a "valid" decision about quality, yet ACJ achieves extremely high levels of "reliability," often considerably higher than practicable operational marking can achieve. It therefore offers a radical alternative to the pursuit of reliability through detailed marking schemes. ACJ is clearly appropriate for performances like writing or art, and for complex portfolios or reports, but may be useful in other contexts too. ACJ offers a new way to involve all teachers in summative as well as formative assessment. The model provides strong statistical control to ensure quality assessment for individual students. This paper describes the theoretical basis of ACJ, and illustrates it with outcomes from some of our trials. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)
Descriptors: Value Judgment, Comparative Analysis, Scoring, Teachers, Judges, Student Evaluation, Reliability, Validity, Elementary School Students, Writing Evaluation, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A