The summer exam results season in England has seen controversy over assessment unlike any year in living memory. The press, politicians and the education world have pontificated at length over a challenging and complex situation, handled imperfectly, that affects the future aspirations of millions of young people. Such discussions have focused on both the specifics of the A-level results fiasco, the algorithmic grade allocation and inconstant political and policymaker decision-making, and also broader questions about assessment and the role of summative examinations in general. Underneath all of these takes, of various temperatures, lies a basic question: is this fair?

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