The English Examining Boards: Their route from independence to government outsourcing agencies

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complexities of modem examining have not been adequately explained to journalists,
let alone to the public at large. The same newspaper on 15 August 2003, returned to
the standards issue in another editorial, this time in relation to A levels. In this
instance it took the opposing position. Confidently, if wrongly, stating that ⁱⁱthe A-
Ievel exam...changed course 20 years ago...when the exam was made ‘criterion
referenced’ - all those who reached the required standard passed”, it asked, “ Where
is the proof of a fall in standards?”

On 22 August 2002, Radio 4^,s Today Programme opened with the news that ⁱⁱThe
GCSE pass rate rose for the 14th year in succession”-, that is, ever since its first cohort
in 1988. Yet it was not until October of that year that, as mentioned above, Mike
Tomlinson attempted to diagnose the reasons for the continuing dispute over the
significance of the rising pass rate.

An anecdote from my own experience illustrates his point about the fundamental
misunderstanding that has bedevilled the debate in England. On 24 October 2002, I
asked a class of year 12 boys if by a show of hands they would indicate how they
believed the AS∕A2 examinations, toward which they had just begun working, would
be graded. Roughly one-third assumed criterion-referencing, one-third norm
referencing and one-third hadn’t considered the matter. Although the technical
terminology is rarely used, the confusion has taken deep root and fractured the
English consensus about the meaning of grades.

The examining boards were inevitably tarnished by the corrosive effects of the annual
standards debate and their judgements increasingly challenged by appeals over grades
from students who felt they had not been awarded the grades they deserved. Perhaps

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