ABSTRACT
The measurement of attainment forms part of the ordinary give-and-take of the classroom. Answers to questions provide some indication of pupils' readiness to pass on to new work, and in written form they allow boys and girls to give considered evidence on their own behalf through responses. Discussion of the inconsistency and element of chance in teachers' marks came in the first place from the developing science of statistics, and for early evidence one must turn to the publications of the Royal Statistical Society. Edgeworth drew attention to the errors attributable both to the idiosyncrasies of examiners and to the limitations of their sensitivity to differing degrees of merit. Detailed analyses in terms of difference between examiners, and differences between the same examiners on different occasions, resulted in the confirmation of earlier findings as to variations in assessment not only in humanistic subjects but in subjects such as School Certificate Chemistry and Mathematical Honours.
