LEVEL DESCRIPTIONS IN THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM - WHAT KIND OF CRITERION REFERENCING IS THIS

The National Curriculum has, since its inception, been described as a criterion-referenced assessment system, in which attainments are descr ibed in terms of statements about what pupils can do, rather than in t erms of comparisons with other pupils. Since 1995, the structure of th e National Curriculum assessment criteria has been changed to 'level d escriptions', continuous prose paragraphs describing complex attainmen ts. The theoretical underpinnings for this structure have not, however , been articulated. We adopt a framework for analysis, in which assess ment is essentially referenced to an educational construct. Educationa l constructs are abstract and complex notions of valued educational ou tcomes. Derived from these constructs are assessment domains, which ar e more specific statements of what is to be assessed. A survey of the literature of the criterion-referenced testing tradition reveals a ran ge of approaches to defining these domains, varying from very precise behavioural specifications to broad descriptions of constructs. Nation al Curriculum level descriptions denote broad and complex assessment d omains, each of which includes a mixture of attainments with little in trinsic coherence. We conclude that coherence is to be imposed upon th e level descriptions by teachers as they deliver the National Curricul um, in the light of their understanding of the underlying educational constructs.