Powell Quiz - Chapter 8

Source 1

Parents are not above ‘cheating’ to help improve their children’s grades. In fact, one in three of them admitted to doing coursework for their children, saying that as it was so common, it would be a disadvantage if they didn’t.
From:
BBNEducation. Kids in Crisis? n.d. Web. 13 July. 2010. http://www.bbn/learning/7906/index.htm

Source 1

8 (Harvard/APA style for references)

Finally, continuous assessment has been weakened by two practical issues. Firstly, there are problems with authenticity, meaning if students always do the work that they are assessed on. One in three parents admits to completing their children’s coursework to help with their grades¹ while some students seem to be copying off the Internet; as one teacher noted, ‘I am often marking work that I know has been copied…but even if I can prove it and the student admits it, they can just do the assessment again, so cheating then, is a risk worth taking’.² The second issue is bureaucracy. Teachers spend on average two hours a day on the marking and form filling required for assessment, and in fact, one school was found to be outsourcing marking to non qualified undergraduates. It seems undeniable that teachers’ time would be better spent planning more effective lessons. Beyond this, there are serious concerns about the validity of some assessments in the first place, given variations across the exam boards. In GCSE English for example, one might ask for three essays per term, another just two per year.³ All these issues arguably impact on the quality of our education system.

Notes:
¹BBNEducation, Kids in Crisis? (n.d.), <http://www.bbn/learning/7906/index.htm>
²Naomi Carlton and Elias Tobin, Change and Continuity, 1975-2010, 2nd edn (London: Medley Press, 2010), p.43.
³Carlton and Tobin, p.43.
⁴Peter Gaffyn, ed., Learning Strategies (London: Corpus, 2010).
⁵ Ibid.

* structural sentences, i.e. topic and concluding

Source 2

The government is hoping to produce guidelines for assessments across England in light of the recent scandal where a school was found to be outsourcing Year 12 assessment marking to university undergraduates and paying them per script, even though they did not have any teaching qualifications. Another issue has been huge variation in the number and length of assessments. For the Matriculated Exam Board, three essays of 1000 words per term and the study of five texts were required for the English GCSE, but for the OCP Board, it was two essays of 1500 words per year and just three texts. Many people believe that there should be far greater standardisation.
From:
Gaffyn, Peter. Ed. Learning Strategies. London: Corpus, 2010. Print.

Source 2

8 (MLA style for references)

Finally, continuous assessment has been weakened by two practical issues. Firstly, there are problems with authenticity, meaning if students always do the work that they are assessed on. One in three parents admits to completing their children’s coursework to help with their grades (BBNEducation) while some students seem to be copying off the Internet; as one teacher noted, "I am often marking work that I know has been copied…but even if I can prove it and the student admits it, they can just do the assessment again, so cheating then, is a risk worth taking" (Carlton and Tobin 43). The second issue is bureaucracy. Teachers spend on average two hours a day on the marking and form filling required for assessment (Carlton and Tobin 43), and in fact, one school was found to be outsourcing marking to non qualified undergraduates (Gaffyn). It seems undeniable that teachers’ time would be better spent planning more effective lessons. Beyond this, there are serious concerns about the validity of some assessments in the first place, given variations across the exam boards. In GCSE English for example, one might ask for three essays per term, another just two per year (Gaffyn). All these issues arguably impact on the quality of our education system.

Source 3

The main complaint we found from teachers was the amount of time they now have to spend on non-teaching duties. While many would like to work on their subject knowledge, teaching techniques and improving IT skills, they in fact spent most of their time outside the classroom on marking the many assessments that are now required at each Key Stage. Not only that but they had to complete all the paperwork for the validation of these assessments, which for a typical one, was three forms. Multiply this across year groups and the result on average was 30 minutes a day on form filling, and 90 minutes on marking, time which could have been better spent on lesson planning. Further, as one teacher remarked, "I am often marking work that I know has been copied off the Internet in large part, but even if I can prove it and the student admits it, they can just do the assessment again, so cheating then, is a risk worth taking" .
From page 43 in:
Carlton, Naomi and Elias Tobin. Change and Continuity, 1975-2010.
2^nd ed. London: Medley Press, 2010. Print.

Source 3

8 (MHRA style for references)

Finally, continuous assessment has been weakened by two practical issues. Firstly, there are problems with authenticity, meaning if students always do the work that they are assessed on. One in three parents admits to completing their children’s coursework to help with their grades¹ while some students seem to be copying off the Internet; as one teacher noted, ‘I am often marking work that I know has been copied…but even if I can prove it and the student admits it, they can just do the assessment again, so cheating then, is a risk worth taking’.² The second issue is bureaucracy. Teachers spend on average two hours a day on the marking and form filling required for assessment, and in fact, one school was found to be outsourcing marking to non qualified undergraduates. It seems undeniable that teachers’ time would be better spent planning more effective lessons. Beyond this, there are serious concerns about the validity of some assessments in the first place, given variations across the exam boards. In GCSE English for example, one might ask for three essays per term, another just two per year.³ All these issues arguably impact on the quality of our education system.

1. BBNEducation, Kids in Crisis? (n.d.), http://www.bbn/learning/7906/index.htm [Accessed 13 July 2010].
2. Naomi Carlton and Elias Tobin, Change and Continuity, 1975-2010, 2^nd edn (London: Medley Press, 2010), p.43.
3. Carlton and Tobin, p.43.
4. Peter Gaffyn, ed., Learning Strategies (London: Corpus, 2010).
5. Ibid.

Structure (conclusions)