RM Assessment

As one of the world’s leading assessment agencies, Cambridge Assessment has an enviable reputation for the quality of marking across its three exam boards - OCR, CIE and ESOL.

Indeed, ensuring quality in assessment is one of the keenest challenges facing any examination agency. It’s difficult to meet this challenge, even across the smallest of teams, but the difficulties rise significantly when trying to ensure accuracy, consistency and timeliness across many qualification-types, and across diverse teams of markers and assessors.

On-screen marking with scoris assessor helps Cambridge Assessment to respond to these demands with success.

Improving Efficiency – Improving Quality

Markers are experienced people. Their strengths lie in identifying and measuring achievement, not in mechanical and administrative tasks. Even the most meticulous of markers may make an occasional error in transcription.

One of the quickly-recognised benefits of scoris assessor is its ability to remove these human errors, as Cambridge Assessment’s Director of Quality and Standards comments,

“Every exam board acknowledges that transcription errors occasionally occur. Indeed, that’s why we employ people to independently check for such errors. But with scoris we are able to remove, at source, basic errors such as incorrect calculation of marks or the return in error of partially marked scripts.” 

At Cambridge Assessment, improvements in communication have also been observed,

“scoris assessor enables an immediate return of scripts. And we no longer have scripts delayed or lost in the post. scoris facilitates a continuous flow of scripts between examiners.”

As a result, fewer awarding meetings have been postponed, and senior examiners are able to monitor and track the progress of marking more closely than before. scoris also makes it easier to reallocate scripts if the original marker is unable to complete their allocation, for whatever reason.

Improving Processes – Improving Quality

Improved efficiency with scoris assessor is only part of the picture at Cambridge Assessment; scoris assessor has also enabled improvements in processes. 

Traditionally, a system known as ‘approval to mark’ involved lengthy processes. With scoris assessor, the arrangement is streamlined so that approval to mark is ensured and granted at the start of the process. ‘Seeding’ scripts test this ‘approval to mark’ more easily and more consistently.

The same scripts can be viewed and marked by many examiners at the same time. It’s a process that applies to all examiners and one that has radically enhanced the quality of marking from the outset. scoris assessor also makes it easier to determine grade boundaries by facilitating online meetings and by enabling the independence and integrity of individual examiners. 

At OCR, scoris assessor has significantly improved the effectiveness of team leader feedback to markers and, as a consequence, the quality of marking. With scoris assessor, team leaders and senior examiners are able to continuously monitor the quality of the marking, and provide instant feedback when it is required.

“Aberrant markers are identified earlier and have much greater opportunity to improve - without the need to remark lots of scripts late in day.”

One noticeable outcome from e-marking with scoris assessor is a marked reduction in results enquiries,

“Since scoris was introduced, there have been fewer changes in marks and grades made following results enquiries, which is evidence to suggest that the quality of marking is improved under scoris.”