ABSTRACT
This type of assessment is frequently used to rank pupils’ work in comparison to the work of other pupils from the same group. The group might be as small as a class in a school or it might be as large as a whole population. For this type of assessment to work properly, there must be distinguishable differences between the subjects, or at least differences that can be recognised by the assessment instrument. If, for example, most of the pupils in a basketball class were about the same standard, it would be very difficult for there to be a teacher assessment that would place them in rank order in relation to the others in the group. Such an assessment would be unreliable. They would all be around the average ability for the group. If, however, the differences were large, from excelling to very low skilled, it would be easy for the teacher to make accurate assessments of individuals’ rank positions within the group.
