This briefing note considers the place for statutory testing in primary schools during 2020-21, in the light of the COVID crisis. The English system of primary statutory assessment, culminating in SATs tests in Year 6, was suspended during the 2020 lockdown. Yet many questions remain about how primary assessment should resume, given that COVID-19…

The Jomtien conference in 1990 on Education for All is seen by many as a turning point for the introduction of increased monitoring and evaluation of the quality of education systems around the world. Internationally, debates have arisen about the nature and frequency of assessment and its impact on education systems with its intended and…

Uses of tests and assessments as key elements in 5 waves of educational reform during the past 50 years are reviewed. These waves include the role of tests in tracking and selection emphasized in the 1950s, the use of tests for program accountability in the 1960s, minimum competency testing programs of the 1970s, school and district accountability…

The gap between policymaker enthusiasm for the uses of student assessment and expert caution is analyzed by examining new forms of student assessment as an education policy strategy. The study is based on interviews with 34 national and state policymakers and focuses on their differing expectations of what assessment policy can accomplish and how…

This paper presents a study of primary and secondary mathematics teachers' changing assessment practices in the context of policy, stakeholder, and personal presses for change. Two cohorts of teachers, one of 35 elementary, middle school, and high school teachers and the other of 24 elementary and middle school teachers participated. Using survey…

The Assessment Bridge uses four major components to span the gaps between testing, curriculum, and change. The book focuses on the context in which educational testing operates and suggests a view of testing, not as a narrowing of the curriculum, but as a way to deepen teachers involvement in creating the ideas that must be assessed so that…

This book originated from a conference arranged to honor the professional contributions of William D. Schafer on his retirement. In recognition of his interest in the subject, each chapter is an effort by one or more professionals to describe what they think the future of assessment should be. The chapters are: (1) What Will Teachers Know about…

Current successes and failures in U.S. educational measurement are reviewed, focusing on criterion-referenced testing. Pluses and minuses are listed for the following: (1) the move toward authentic assessment; (2) the dominance of criterion-referenced assessment; and (3) item response theory applications. Each area is a double-edged sword. (SLD)

The use of performance assessment for instruction and accountability and the support for its use provided by the school district were studied in three suburban school districts in Colorado, New York, and Illinois. Two were elementary and secondary districts, but the Illinois district was a high school district. All three districts have employed…

In the Teacher-to-Teacher series of the National Education Association's Professional Library, teachers speak directly to other teachers about school restructuring issues. This volume covers issues in student assessment, focusing on student portfolios and their uses in reflecting student processes, collaboration, and literacy. Various portfolios…

New findings about intelligence as a set of capabilities that expand and change throughout life are changing the view of learning and necessity of assessment. This book presents a new view of assessment that is aligned with the emerging paradigm of multiple intelligences. A multiple intelligence approach to assessment should grow from multiple…

At the present time the American educational system seems caught in a squeeze play between the historical need for tests that are simple to administer and understand versus the current demand for tests that are respected as thorough measures of the kind of learning needed in a competitive and changing world. Many of the misuses of test data arise…

The question of whether tests can be both curriculum-neutral and effective means of monitoring and motivating educational practice is discussed. Educational reform and testing are intimately linked, as tests are widely viewed as a means of educational improvement. Tests/assessments influence educator behavior by stimulating them to assure that…

The results of standardized tests are misused and often do more harm than good, according to William W. Cooley, professor and researcher at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). The results seldom assist anyone in improving instruction. Too many out-of-school variables such as social-economic status influence test scores. Achievement is…

The attractiveness of some European education policies and the current push toward national standards of academic achievement have converged recently in proposals for national educational testing in the United States. This paper examines the origins and status of student examination policies in 12 countries of the European Community. A major…