Accelerating student
achievement with CEM data
Beijing International Bilingual Academy(BIBA), established in 2006, caters forinternational students as well as Chinese
local students, from Kindergarten toGrade 12.
BIBA provides the Cambridge IGCSE
programme within the IB Middle Years
Programme framework, alongside the Chinese
National Curriculum, followed by the IB
Diploma Programme in Grades 11 and 12.
Head of Pedagogy and School Accreditation,
Mr Parras Majithia, explains how they are using
Cambridge CEM data to support internal processes
to accelerate student achievement through use ofevidence on research-based practices.
‘In terms of data, we are moving towards moreevidence-based practices,’ Parras explains. ‘Wechose to implement Cambridge CEM assessments
across the Middle and High Schools because it isBeijing International
Bilingual Academy

adaptive. Additionally, because it is one test rather
than multiple tests, and because it does not require
students to have specific curriculum knowledge but
looks instead at students’ learning profiles.’Individualising
student support
Over the last few years, BIBA has collected a lot ofdata from different sources.
‘We are now at the stage where we want to pushthrough with using the data more and use it
in different ways: at subject level, grade level;
programme level, school level,’ says Parras. ‘We
also want to support teachers to use different data
sets at individual class level to be able to provide
individualised support for students.’‘We are looking at the relationships between all of
the different types of data, including from CEM,
to ask questions. Those questions then help tointerrogate the data set more closely, and then help
us to go back and look at our classroom practice.’

cem.org

Supporting teachers
and bilingual students
The CEM data is particularly valuable for bilingualschools.
‘We know that typically in bilingual schools, theEnglish vocabulary of a student profile is often aweaker area, because most students are operating
their second or third language. Cambridge CEM’s
Yellis and CEM IBE assessments have been helpful
for us in looking at our student profiles, and now
we have more of an evidence base enabling ourteachers to have further detailed understanding
about the students in front of them. We feel theCEM data has real potential to have positive impacts
on the student experience and their progress.’‘The student feedback on the assessments has also
been positive. One of the key reasons they havesaid that they preferred CEM to some of the othertests they have experienced is that it is one short
test: 50 minutes to an hour maximum, and it covers
a range of questions.’‘Having the CEM data helps us to have learning
conversations with the students, and it is designed
to help both teachers and students with theirlearning. CEM data has been a real win for thestudents, and a win for us, as well, in terms oflogistics and organization because its setup is also
relatively easy.’

Evaluating
educational outcomes‘In order to evaluate the educational
outcomes, we are conducting some historicalanalysis, looking at the CEM data, thepredictions and the IGCSE results of all cohorts
which have been through the school.’‘We are also working on identifying therelationships between the variables for us
to see at a strategic level the impact of any
changes that have been made in the last few
years, and then also what changes we mightneed to make in our structures in order tobetter meet the needs of our students who arecoming through.’‘So, we are taking the data and turning it
into information. And it is about using theprofessional judgment of our educators
to build and develop strategies to support
student learning… and that is when it becomesreally useful. We want our teachers to own
the data and use it in ways that will assist in
their planning, assessments and professional
conversations.’

Asking theright questions
Parras believes that sharing the data and asking
questions is key.
‘Once we have downloaded the CEM data, we startby reviewing it against other datasets we have,identifying any patterns and seeing what questions
are raised,’ he explains. ‘We share the appropriate
data with different stakeholders and then we canstart to ask more questions and drill down a littlefurther.’‘For example, at cohort level we have been
comparing the different outcomes of boys andgirls, and the difference in scores in each of theVocabulary, Mathematics and Non-Verbal sections.’‘Some of the CEM data, particularly on individual
students and individual scores, did show us somesurprises which was good to see, because it gave
us the chance to ask more questions and then toinvestigate other areas of the curriculum within theschool.’

We feel the CEM data has real potential to have positive impacts on the student experienceand their progress.

Find out more: cem.org© Cambridge University Press and Assessment 2024