Pearson Schools Blog

Student performance across onscreen and paper-based exams

We believe that exams should be a fair and accurate reflection of students’ performance – regardless of whether an exam is taken onscreen or on paper.

That’s why our research focuses on many aspects of comparability – including student performance across paper and digital exams.

We believe that all students should be able to best show what they know and can do in exams – regardless of whether the exam is taken onscreen or on paper.   

That’s why we’re continuously researching and gathering feedback to better understand and inform how we can enhance accessibility and inclusion in exams – including through text styling and formatting.

We believe that exams should be a fair and accurate reflection of students’ performance – regardless of whether an exam is taken onscreen or on paper.

That’s why our research programme not only focuses on comparability of student performance, but also explores if and how marking may compare between paper and digital exams formats.

Understanding digital assessment experiences for students with SEND

We believe that all students should be able to best show what they know and can do in exams – regardless of whether those exams are taken onscreen or on paper, and irrespective of each student’s unique background, ability or needs.    

That’s why we’ve been using a range of methods to research how different learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) experience digital assessments. The findings can help us better understand if, where, and how technology can enhance accessibility and inclusion in exams.

The role of new digital learning technologies is not a vision of the future; it is now firmly embedded in education systems from the nursery to the university. The development of digital resources is fast-paced and it can seem overwhelming to navigate the tsunami of sales pitches promising everything from reduced workloads to perfect assessment. However, step back and remember the wise words of educationalist Dylan Wiliam that “everything works somewhere; nothing works everywhere – so we need to ask ourselves, under what conditions does x work?”

I rarely meet a teacher these days who isn’t concerned about the growing number of children with speech, language and communication needs. 

It isn’t likely to get better any time soon if we look at what is happening in the cohort of children who will soon be working their way through the school system. In a recent survey 82 per cent of health visitors reported seeing a year-on-year increase in children with speech, language and communication delays in their pre-school caseloads. And last year, Speech and Language UK estimated that at least 1.9 million primary- and secondary-aged children were struggling with talking and understanding words. That equates to one in five school-aged children – the highest number ever recorded.

What gets measured tends to get done. In primary schools this means a curriculum driven largely by English and maths.

But perhaps assessment needs to help us look below the surface of these headline measures. Why? Consider these research findings:

• Children with poor language at age five are six times less likely to reach the expected standard in literacy at age 11 than those with good language, and 11 times less likely to reach the expected standard in maths.
• Children’s reading ability is dependent on their oral language skills – their vocabulary and language structures. The contribution of spoken language skills to reading is not confined to reading comprehension; it also predicts how easily they will learn phonics.

In this blog, Mr Bates Creates reviews Pearson's Primary Interactive Library – a great time-saving resource which can support any classroom and can help you deliver a well-rounded lesson.

James Pembroke, Data Analyst at Insight/Sig+, analyses the changes and impact of assessment, post-COVID, on schools and pupils.