Merit-based procedures should be constantly reevaluated according to the circumstances to remain both valid and fair--two interrelated concepts. Inducing reevaluation, however, is difficult. These procedures are controlled by legitimate authorities, are rule and contract-bound, and can become quickly entrenched. This resistance to change calls for…

The Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM), based in the North of England, recently celebrated its 40th birthday. Arising from an evaluation project at Newcastle University, and a subsequent move to Durham University, it rapidly grew in scope and influence, developing a series of highly regarded school assessments. For a relatively small…

Gaining knowledge of statistics is important in most (under)graduate programs within the social and behavioral sciences and requires repeated study by students, highlighting the need for good practice materials. We describe the development of an open item bank of statistics exercises by a community of instructors from Dutch universities: the…

This paper describes the Berlin "Abitur" examination in the twentieth century and its written documentation in files. By the late nineteenth century, the "Abitur" examination was fully established in Prussia and with it a graduation certificate that was obligatory for university entrance. Thus, the "Abitur"…

Dr. Tracey Burns is a Senior Analyst in the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. She heads a portfolio of projects including Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning, 21st Century Children and Trends Shaping Education. Until recently she was also responsible for the OECD work on Governing Complex Education systems. Previous to…

International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) are one of the most important tools policymakers and other educational stakeholders have to inform evidence based decision making for educational reform. Despite this, and the widespread use of ILSA data, results are sometimes misunderstood or misinterpreted. Here, we offer a brief guide to ILSAs and…

The emergence of the global pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 has posed several challenges to education across the globe and led to the emergence and progression of newer methods of teaching and assessment. While online teaching has been quickly adopted and implemented across the globe, exams and assessment remain poorly managed both at an elementary and…

The COVID-19 pandemic put academic institutions around the world in the difficult position of suddenly having to organize many lectures and examinations over online channels only, due to students' physical access to their campus buildings being restricted. While the search for possible solutions to this problem was often challenging, this…

From the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, the development of the history of education in China can be divided into four stages: a budding period, one of tortuous development, a recovery stage and finally one of stable growth influenced by various ideas and themes from other countries. Abundant academic areas and topics as well as…

This paper identifies important technological, financial, and equity challenges to the development and implementation of online or onscreen educational testing. The insights are based on the author's experiences in New Zealand of being the senior project manager for the Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning (asTTle) computer-based…

Calculus is traditionally tested, at least in part, by a closed book written examination taken under secure conditions. In March 2020, two-thirds of the way through a vector calculus course, our institution went into lockdown and all teaching and assessment had to shift online. While some teachers insisted that remotely written non-proctored…

This article describes the development and impact of a faculty development program on improving the readiness of Indonesian educators to teach online. While online learning is seen as a potential solution to increasing access to higher education in Indonesia, most higher education faculty in Indonesia lack the necessary skills to teach online…

This article provides a detailed review of the Computer-based English Listening Speaking Test (CELST) used in Guangdong, China, as part of the National Matriculation English Test (NMET) to assess students' English proficiency. The CELST measures listening and speaking skills as outlined in the "English Curriculum for Senior Middle…

The teaching of writing in secondary English subjects in Australia, as in other countries including England and the United States, has become increasingly formulaic. Pedagogies including direct instruction, modelling, scaffolding, and genre-based approaches involve the implementation of formulas for writing sentences, paragraphs, and entire…

Organizing exams or competitions with multiple choice questions and assessment by technology today is something that happens in many educational institutions around the world. These kinds of exams or tests as a rule are done by answering questions in a so-called answer sheet form. In this form, each student or participant in the exam is obliged to…