What does 'evaluation consistency' in mark schemes refer to?

Evaluation consistency in mark schemes refers to the importance of ensuring equitable treatment of all answers. This means that every student's response is assessed based on the same standards and expectations, allowing for fair and unbiased grading.

When evaluators maintain consistency, they apply the same criteria uniformly to all answers, which supports a level playing field for all students, regardless of their individual responses. This approach helps to minimize subjectivity in grading and contributes to the reliability of assessment outcomes.

While uniform grading criteria across subjects (the first option) can contribute to overall fairness in education, it does not capture the nuance of how specific answers are treated within a single evaluation. Providing each student with the same feedback (the second option) might not always be feasible or beneficial, as feedback should ideally be tailored to individual answers. Implementing a rigid scoring system (the final option) could detract from the ability to evaluate answers flexibly and accurately, depending on students’ reasoning and context within their responses.