Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press have acquired Durham University’s Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM).

CEM is a not-for-profit organisation that provides formative assessments for children of all ages and is used in over 70 countries. It will remain in the North East of England.

The centre used to be run by the influential education academic Professor Robert Coe.

It hit the headlines in 2016 after developing a supposedly “tutor-proof” 11-plus test.

The previous decade, under the leadership of Professor Peter Tymms, the centre found itself in a bitter row with the Labour government. CEM said its assessments of primary pupil performance showed that the ministers’ cherished improvements in reading and maths Sats scores had been overstated.

‘A great fit for Cambridge’

Saul Nassé, chief executive of Cambridge Assessment, said today: “CEM’s expertise in formative assessment is a great fit for Cambridge. Bringing our organisations together will enable us to do more to further education around the world.” 

Peter Phillips, chief executive of Cambridge University Press, said: “It gives us great pleasure to welcome our new colleagues at CEM to the Cambridge family. We look forward to seeing the collaboration between our different teams develop as together we help students and teachers in their learning.” 

Emma Beatty, executive director of CEM, said: “We have achieved some amazing things during our time at Durham, and we are incredibly excited about the opportunity we now have to build on this, together with our new colleagues at Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press.”