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abstract
Teachers' estimates of candidates' performances in public examinations are sometimes used as a ‘trigger’ to investigate where the assessment procedures may have gone awry. In Britain, teachers' estimates are also used extensively in the selection of candidates to be interviewed and given conditional offers for entry into higher education. More generally, teachers' estimates may be used by students in their selection of higher education establishments. This paper presents multilevel analyses of over 7000 estimated grades supplied to a single British public examining board in 1992. The results reveal that there are substantial differences between subjects. There is also some evidence to support the notion that teachers' estimates for females were slightly higher than for males who obtained the same final grade. Applications of teachers' estimates are explored in the light of the results of the study.