Training Example: AlphaPlus – Review the Data, Give Your Score & Compare to the Real AI Evaluation

[H1] Excellence in Educational Assessment

[H2] Welcome to AlphaPlus

We are globally recognised for excellence in the design, development and deployment of qualifications and assessments, and in the evaluation of their performance and impact. We work with schools, universities and professional organisations.
AlphaPlus has offices in the UK and Bahrain.

Part of AQA Global Assessment Services

About AlphaPlus
Cymraeg

[H2] What We Do

More details about Educational Standards and Services

https://alphaplus.co.uk/wp-content/themes/alphaplus-AQA

[H3] Educational Standards & Curriculum

[H4] Our services include:

Qualification Development
Occupational Standards
Curricula & Learning Resources
Policy & Governance

More details about Assessment and Certification

[H3] Assessment & Certification

[H4] Our services include:

Assessment Development
Assessment Delivery & Certification
Assessment Technology
Regulation & Compliance

More details about Evaluation and Research

[H3] Evaluation & Research

[H4] Our services include:

Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research
Trials & Data
Support for Policy Makers

More details about Training

[H3] Training

[H4] Our services include:

Bespoke Training
Wide Range of Assessment & Qualification Topics
Extensive Staff Experience

[H2] Our Work

Our Case Studies

Adaptive online personalised assessments for schoolchildren in Wales

[IMG: Children smiling and working on tablets in a school]

Adaptive online personalised assessments for schoolchildren in Wales

International Early Learning Child Well-being Study (IELS) for the Department for Education (DfE)

[IMG: Children smiling and working on tablets in a school]

International Early Learning Child Well-being Study (IELS) for the Department for Education (DfE)

Formative English & maths assessment in schools for Rising Stars

[IMG: Student and teacher smiling at each other]

Formative English & maths assessment in schools for Rising Stars

Value-Added School Measures for the Bulgarian Ministry of Education

[IMG: School children learning]

Value-Added School Measures for the Bulgarian Ministry of Education

Developing test specifications for City & Guilds on the Takamol Doroob Project

[IMG: 2 women learning on a laptop together]

Developing test specifications for City & Guilds on the Takamol Doroob Project

Developing Standards on the Essential Digital Skills for the Department for Education (DfE)

[IMG: Smiling woman using a laptop]

Developing Standards on the Essential Digital Skills for the Department for Education (DfE)

Support for the Learning Achievement in Rwandan Schools Project (LARS) for the Rwandan Education Board

[IMG: Smiling children with their hands up]

Support for the Learning Achievement in Rwandan Schools Project (LARS) for the Rwandan Education Board

Research into the validity of vocational qualifications for Ofqual

[IMG: Vocational students smiling whilst learning]

Research into the validity of vocational qualifications for Ofqual

Assessment Services for Medical Certification Bodies

[IMG: Medical professional smiling and talking to a patient]

Assessment Services for Medical Certification Bodies

Support for a new National Vocational Certification Body - Saudi Skills Standards

[IMG: Saudi Engineer]

Support for a new National Vocational Certification Body - Saudi Skills Standards

English & Maths Tests for Qualifying School Teachers for The National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL)

[IMG: Teacher talking to a child at the front of the classroom]

English & Maths Tests for Qualifying School Teachers for The National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL)

Research on Improving the Student Learning Experience at University for the Department for Business Innovation & Skills

[IMG: Smiling university student]

Research on Improving the Student Learning Experience at University for the Department for Business Innovation & Skills

National Skills Survey and Longitudinal Trials for the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills

[IMG: Adults working on computers]

National Skills Survey and Longitudinal Trials for the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills

Developing Qualifications for Colleges of Excellence Saudi Arabia

Developing Qualifications for Colleges of Excellence Saudi Arabia

Our Case Studies

[H2] Our Global Reach

Our Sectors

Anguilla
Barbados
Brunei
Bulgaria
France
Germany
Ghana
Grenada
Greece
Guyana
India
Kenya
Kosovo
Lesotho
Mozambique
Myanmar
Netherlands
Nigeria
Oman
Qatar
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Seychelles
Singapore
UAE
UK
US

[IMG: Map showing the global locations served by Alphaplus]

Our Sectors

[H3] Get In Touch

[H1] Innovation in Assessment

[H2] Educational Standards, Qualifications & Curricula

We support education and certification organisations to develop and modernise their learning programmes. We work across school, vocational and professional education, connecting research, global best practice and local requirements to produce trusted and defensible programmes.
This includes developing academic, occupational and professional standards, qualifications, and associated curricula. This work often includes helping regulatory bodies decide how assessment and certification will work within programmes of learning – establishing what assessment steps a candidate should go through, how scores are given, how results on different assessment elements combine, and how grades and outcomes are awarded.
One of our strengths is that we can deploy large, multi-disciplinary teams able to provide an end-to-end service; from working with stakeholders to produce standards, through qualification and assessment design, to curriculum design and teacher training for delivery.

Our Case Studies

[H2] Occupational Standards

We have developed over 100 occupational standards – job role descriptions that help establish industry-wide standards and underpin the design of modern vocational qualifications. We support governments in aligning occupational standards both with provider programmes in teaching and learning, and with labour market-driven initiatives.

[H2] Qualification Design & Development

We advise on different approaches to designing qualifications, frameworks and standards, and help develop and deliver these in vocational, professional and academic disciplines, often while ensuring they fit within regulatory standards. Deciding how the required knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours are articulated within a qualification (and how assessments will be made to ensure successful candidates meet the required standard) are critical in determining the content and style of curriculum.
Our team of professional qualification and assessment specialists work alongside subject experts to develop fit-for-purpose qualifications that meet regulations and work for learners and training providers. Our qualifications also meet validity and reliability requirements and provide a sound platform for writing assessments.

[H2] Modernisation of Curricula 
& Learning 
Resources

AlphaPlus provides a full-service design and development package for learning programmes – from professional standards and competency frameworks to learning resources, delivery support and professional assessment and accreditation.
Around the world, we see many curriculum and assessment processes that focus on teaching rather than learning, on memorisation of facts and rote learning of processes. Modernisation involves moving to more active pedagogy, embedding competency and functionality in traditional subject-centric programmes, and ensuring that critical thinking, creativity, and interpersonal skills are given sufficient time to develop.
We are research-led, but practical and pragmatic in our approach to reform. We see assessment and evaluation as critical in providing information about how curricula ‘land’ in practice, and we look to work throughout the lifecycle of curriculum reform, including working with teachers to develop their practice.
AlphaPlus is known for its willingness to innovate in assessment, often using technology to support both personalisation and active learning. However, we are committed to learning as a community activity, seeking to ensure that innovation sustains teachers at the heart of learning rather than excluding them from it.

[H2] Policy & Governance

Many exams take place in highly regulated environments where the stakes are high for the candidate, their training centre, the certification body, and the people who trust and rely on the certification awarded. We support certification bodies in ensuring that their qualifications are worthy of that trust – ensuring that regulatory compliance, governance processes and the performance of the assessments themselves meet global standards.

For more information please get in touch

+ UK Enquiries

[IMG: Photo of Fraser Talbot]

Fraser Talbot
fraser.talbot@aqaglobal.com
+44 (0) 1483 477513

+ International Enquiries

[IMG: Photo of Syed Shah]

Syed Shah
syed.shah@aqaglobal.com
+44 (0) 7389 830370

AlphaPlus have guided us through a process that was unknown to us before we started, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. They have been forthcoming in providing advice, clarificaiton and explanation to ensure we understood what was required and to inform our descision making.
[IMG: IFoA logo]
– IFoA – Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

[H2] Further Services

Assessment & Certification

Assessment & Certification

Evaluation & Research

Evaluation & Research

Training

Training

[H1] Trusted by Governments

[H2] Evaluation
& Research

AlphaPlus helps ensure the proper working of qualifications and assessments and assembles the evidence to demonstrate this. This evidence includes analytical work, often on large datasets; field work with centres, teachers and students; reporting and evidence-led action planning.
Our clients include governments, their agencies and awarding organisations, as well as professional bodies and research bodies. Our team has expertise in assessment, evaluation and statistics, fieldwork and evidence gathering – but we are also excellent communicators, speaking and writing clearly and accurately, and giving messages that are to the point and free of jargon.
We provide realistic evaluations of results (not theoretical, not perfectionist, not partisan), advising our clients where and why we think improvements are necessary, but equally giving sensible, calm judgements of where services are satisfactory, or as good as they can be.
Our services include:
Qualitative & quantitative mixed methods research
Randomised controlled trials
Psychometric analysis
Impact evaluation
Literature reviews
Support for policy & strategy makers
Surveys
Data Analysis

Case Studies

In 2018, we contracted with AlphaPlus to produce a research report and good practice guide on the features of effective mark schemes in knowledge-based qualifications. Sarah Maughan and her team worked with us in a positive and collaborative way to understand what was needed. They delivered the research report and good practice guide on time and they were responsive to all our feedback and requirements, whilst offering creative ideas and solutions. The quality of both documents was very high and feedback from awarding bodies on the usefulness of the good practice guide has been very positive.
[IMG: Qualification Wales logo]
– Qualification Wales

[H2] Psychometrics

Statistical analysis provides a critical part of validity evidence that underpins assessment design, development and delivery. This evidence relies on accurate and timely statistical data and on clear, unbiased and informed reporting. AlphaPlus’ broad experience and deep knowledge of assessment theory and practice means that we can not only undertake the analysis, but also provide written and verbal advice on what to do about it. Although we are experts, we are pragmatic and non-partisan – we focus on serving our assessment organisation clients with evidence-based interpretation and action-planning.
As well as being technically proficient in statistical programming, our team has broad expertise in the substantive theories of educational measurement. We are experts in item response theory (IRT) and including IRT’s application to adaptive testing. We have carried out analyses in the field of reliability and generalisability theory. We are adept standards setting practitioners; including the logistics necessary to conduct standards setting meeting and the various technical approaches to standards setting (e.g. Angoff, Hofstee, borderline regression method, Ebel method, etc.).
Candidate data often includes personal data and needs to be dealt with securely and in accordance with data processing protocols from the point of collection. AlphaPlus is trusted by national governments to obtain, manage and process national datasets to the highest standards.

Learn More

[H2] Trialling & Calibration

Questions and Assessments can be calibrated by trialling them in advance with representative candidates groups. These groups can range from a few hundred to a few thousand candidates. This provides extensive data on item, assessment and candidate performance – item and assessment calibration is a critical step in ensuring the validity and reliability of assessmments and helps support balanced assessment design. Trialing presents risks due to exposure of live content however at AlphaPlus we provide a fully managed trials service to mitigate the risks in trialing live assessment content. Our services include:

190,000+
Number of learners

170,000+
Number of scripts marked

170+
Test Administrators

UK
National Coverage

AlphaPlus has securely delivered more than 30 major trials (and many smaller ones) with over 190,000 learners and more than 170 test administrators, and 15 residential marking operations with over 170,000 scripts marked by our skilled markers. We are on STA’s frameworks for question writing and test trialling/pre-testing for KS1 and KS2 national assessments in England, and our team also support the recruitment of participants for training and evaluation projects.
Our team are experienced at recruiting, supporting and sustaining participation of schools – initial contact, providing information, dealing with objections, explaining benefits, and giving the schools the confidence they will be properly supported. This includes large scale trials as above, as well as informal trials such as cognitive labs and other observational approaches. We have a large pool of test administrators (DBS-approved) to support in-school delivery. All this trialling work is undertaken with security throughout – most of the content we are trialling is required to be secure.
Creating and drawing representative samples of schools and candidates,
Recruiting and managing centres,
Delivering assessments and marking responses – as well as undertaking statistical analysis to complete the review of draft assessments.

Learn More

For more information please get in touch

[IMG: Photo of Fiona Myles-Hook]

Fiona Myles-Hook
Business Development Lead – Research
fiona.myles-hook@aqaglobal.com
+44 (0) 1483 477512

We have worked with AlphaPlus for around four years on a number of large standardised test development projects for primary and secondary schools. We have found the team to be incredibly consultative and able to go beyond the project remit to help us shape our products to be the best they can for our customers. As experts in their field they are able to help us on a strategic level but also right down the detail of the best way to set-up and run complex, large-scale projects.
We have continued to work with the team on these large projects as AlphaPlus deliver high quality materials that are fit for purpose. The team are always professional and supportive, and have been able to adapt to short-notice projects to help us deliver our business goals. We would definitely recommend others to work with AlphaPlus.
[IMG: Rising Stars logo]
– Rising Stars

[H2] Further Services

Educational Standards & Curriculum

Educational Standards & Curriculum

Assessment & Certification

Assessment & Certification

Training

Training

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