Public pressure on evaluation has influenced educational projects and national evaluation systems for many decades. This article extends the ongoing discussions in the field, offering a problematising exploration of evaluation as an educational policy phenomenon, thinking with the notion of rhythm in the analysis. Approaching educational…

This chapter presents a critical analysis of generative AI (GenAI) detection tools in higher education assessments. The rapid advancement and widespread adoption of GenAI, particularly in education, necessitates a reevaluation of traditional academic integrity mechanisms. I explore the effectiveness, vulnerabilities, and ethical implications of AI…

High-quality assessments are crucial to many aspects of the educational process. They can help policymakers monitor long-term educational trends, assist state educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) in allocating resources and professional development opportunities, provide insights to teachers about how well students…

To mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning, the School Recovery Plan (SRP) was implemented by the Department of Basic Education in South Africa. In this study, we explore the impact of the SRP on teachers' conceptualisation of new and different assessment practices. Data were obtained from 1098 teachers using an…

This article aims to provide a systemic instrument to evaluate the functioning of higher education systems. Despite systemic instruments have had a strong impact on the management of public policy systems in fields such as health and innovation, higher education has not been widely discussed in applying this type of instrument. Herein lies the…

Educational assessment is important. But in the twenty-first century it is easy to feel that schooling and other phases of education are shaped entirely by certain assessments, and that assessment is only about exam results. The idea that test grades can accurately describe the aims and outcomes of education is unfair and reductive. Yet it is a…

The emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has reshaped higher education with both promising opportunities and significant challenges. Yet little is known about how global educational policies are evolving to address the assessment challenges posed by GenAI in terms of 'ethical considerations.' Additionally, current research has…

Education policy development internationally reflect a widespread expansion of learning outcome orientation in policy, curricula and assessment. In this paper, teachers' perceptions about their work are explored, as goals and assessment play a more prominent role driven by the introduction of a learning outcomes-oriented system. This is…

The rise of evaluation and data in education and education policy is a trend manifesting across a wide variety of policy contexts, holding in its grip national and global policies, with impacts that reach the level of individual children, teachers, and their subjectivities. Earlier research has mainly focused on the phenomenon in neoliberal…

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) has been available at the undergraduate level for decades. This article provides information to encourage institutions to consider implementing graduate-level PLA. It provides an analysis of the increasing demand for graduate education in the U.S. and shows the growing number of non-traditional graduate students who…

This study summarizes state-level policies surrounding school readiness assessment. A search was conducted to collect and code school readiness policies to document key components of assessment practices in each state, such as if the assessments were mandated or recommended, timing of assessment, measures used, domains of functioning assessed, and…

The methodology presented in this paper offers an approach for assessing the robustness of a country's vocational education strategy from the governance and financing standpoints. The analysis may serve as an input for decisions on financial assistance. Developed on the basis of the European Commission's Budget Support Guidelines 2017 -- Annex 3,…

The Global Partnership for Education's (GPE) interest in broader education workforce issues is situated within the context of the partnership's current strategic plan (GPE 2025), which recognizes "quality teaching" as a priority area within a wider system transformation agenda. GPE's work includes providing technical support in this area…

School closure is relatively common in the United States. An analysis by the Urban Institute found that about 2% of public schools, on average, were closed each year between 2003 and 2013, and these closures were found in urban, suburban, and rural communities. A substantial number of public schools have been closed in Michigan, California, Ohio,…

A critical issue in educational evaluation is whether evaluations should focus on standardized (summative, often quantitative) or contextualized (formative or often qualitative) evidence. The author of this article advises readers to beware of false dichotomies. The big issue is not whether evaluations should be "standardized" or…