The Public Examination Sector
AlphaPlus has its origins in the public examinations sector. Its founding directors all worked in Awarding Organisations or the regulatory authorities, holding posts at chief executive level, in the vocational qualifications sector and in research departments. So we know how exam boards operate from top to bottom.
In particular, we are steeped in the traditions of quality assurance in assessment. We know how to develop high quality assessment instruments, from multiple-choice items to the latest on-screen question types using up-to-the-minute technology.
We train authors and editors for Awarding Organisations in the UK, Europe and overseas, in the production of paper based and computer based tests. We support the establishment of item banks and the proper use of item statistics in item bank management and we advise on the moderation and quality assurance of centre-based assessments.
AlphaPlus is therefore able to offer its clients a powerful mix of policy and practice in education, using our experience of practice to inform and strengthen our understanding of policy. In assessment, this means that we not only offer a range of consultancy services for the design and development of all aspects of assessment, but we also provide turnkey assessment authoring services for both paper based and e-assessments.
We offer expertise in both traditional assessment and e-assessment. We are equally at home with high stakes summative assessment, formative assessment, and psychometric testing.
Clients in the UK
We have worked on and often led some of the most high profile assessment projects in the UK in recent years. Examples include:
- For TDA : AlphaPlus developed The Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) skills tests for the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). These high stakes tests, primarily delivered on-screen, cover the core skills (English, mathematics and ICT) that teachers need to fulfil their wider professional role in schools
- For a number of Assessment Organisations: AlphaPlus has developed Functional Skills assessments in English, mathematics and ICT at all levels for a number of the UK’s leading Awarding Organisations, both for paper based and on-screen delivery
- For DCELLS, the development of paper based assessments as reflective aids to understanding the impact on emotional intelligence of interventions by organisations working with young people
- For CCEA in Northern Ireland, the production of assessment instruments for Essential Skills.
International Clients
AlphaPlus trained teachers and examination board staff in Mozambique in the production of high quality objective tests as school leaving qualifications.
We have recently been commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat to strengthen the measurement and evaluation capacity of the Caribbean Examinations Council, a two year project which started in February 2011.
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