Equity Issues in Performance Assessment. Undermining Gender Stereotypes: Examination Performance in the UK at 16.

Since its introduction in 1988 the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), the main public examination for pupils at age 16 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, has become an obvious area in which to investigate gender-related differences in performance. As a complex attainment test, the GCSE is largely made up of a coursework element that can be classified as performance assessment. In the autumn of 1992, the University of London Examinations and Assessment Council Research Section expanded work already in progress to analyze the actual performance of students on the GCSE in English and mathematics, and to investigate causes of differential performance in these subjects. Data came from nearly 3,000 examination papers, 200 questionnaire survey responses of school departmental heads, and case study investigations. Gender differences in English are found to be substantial and not decreasing, but gender differences in mathematics are decreasing and have narrowed to a 2% difference in favor of boys. The complex web of factors that causes these differences is discussed, particularly with regard to coursework and the impact on modifications planned for the GCSE. Five tables present study findings. (Contains 21 references.) (SLD)