Comparative judgement has been put forward as a way of assessing more open responses to
mathematical questions, for example in problem solving. This paper describes a small-scale
study involving a comparative judgement assessment of the mathematical problem-solving
skills of 17 pupils from one primary school in England, with judgments provided by 10 teachers
from that school. The scale separation reliability was 0.87, showing a high degree of accuracy
in differentiating between the quality of the responses. Examples of the responses showed a
valid progression in the problem-solving skills shown. Questionnaire responses from the
teacher judges support the potential of the process to inform teachers and pupils of the range of
approaches that can be used in such a task. In addition, through the built-in moderation process,
comparative judgement can provide formative support in aligning teachers’ views of problem
solving.
History
School
Science
Department
Mathematics Education Centre
Source
29th Conference of the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (SAARMSTE)