Large-scale learning assessments can be used to generate performance and contextual data on student learning outcomes. They can be national, regional, or international; school based or household based. The UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO) has conducted a qualitative study to explore both how and why learning…

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provides a framework in which over 80 countries collaborate to build advanced global metrics to assess the knowledge, skills and character attributes of the students. The design of assessments poses major conceptual and technical challenges, as successful learning. Beyond a sound…

From September 2015, schools in England will be teaching new A-level science specifications that have been developed by examination boards to encompass new higher levels of demand developed by the Department for Education. Integral to these new specifications is a radical change to the contribution of practical science to the A-level grade of the…

A basic level of literacy and numeracy is essential for full participation in modern societies. While very few people in most of the advanced countries could be regarded as illiterate or innumerate, recent studies have shown that there are, in fact, significant numbers of people with poor skills, and that low levels of skills are associated with…

Standards-based science education, with its emphasis on monitoring and accountability, is rapidly becoming a key part of the globalization of science education. Standards-based testing within countries is increasingly being used to determine the effectiveness of a country's educational system, and international testing programs such as Programme…

Monitoring Trends in Educational Growth (MTEG) offers a flexible, collaborative approach to developing and implementing an assessment of learning outcomes that yields high-quality, nationally relevant data. MTEG is a service that involves ACER staff working closely with each country to develop an assessment program that meets the country's…

This article provides an introduction to the kind of computer software that is used to score student writing in some high stakes testing programs, and that is being promoted as a teaching and learning tool to schools. It sketches the state of play with machines for the scoring of writing, and describes how these machines work and what they do.…

This GED Testing fact sheet provides information on: (1) GED[R] Tests; (2) Versions and Editions of the GED Tests; (3) Earning a Credential; (4) GED Testing Service[R]; (5) History of the GED Tests; (6) Who Accepts the GED Credential; (7) Public/Private Partnership of GEDTS; (8) Renowned GED Credential Recipients; (9) GED Testing Numbers for 2008;…

The marketisation of education in England began in the 1980s. It was facilitated by national testing (which gave objective and comparable information to parents), and by the New Public Management (which introduced a posteriori funding and competition among providers). Now a new complementary phase of marketisation is being introduced:…

The second national sample assessment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy at Year 6 and Year 10 will occur in 2008. The assessment happens every three years and the first occurred in 2005. This document provides information about the ICT literacy assessment including: (1) Education Ministers' decisions regarding ICT; (2) the…

The information and assessment materials in these resources have been designed to assist teachers to gauge their own students' proficiency in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) literacy. By examining modules from the National Year 6 and Year 10 ICT Literacy Assessment teachers may be able to design similar tasks and to judge their…

Gives excerpts from a proposal developed at the University of Toronto regarding a testing program and how it might be used in specifying admissions criteria for incoming students. (BP)

The U.S. public has consistently favored standardized testing in the schools, preferably with consequences (or "stakes") riding on the results, ever since the first polls taken on the topic several decades ago. Results from different polls approaching the topic in different ways suggest that nearly all Americans would like to see…

Certification tests for elementary teachers in Ontario were introduced in 1871 and in 2002. Although the provincial government's stated goals for the testing programs were similar, the 2002 program was opposed by the initial teacher education programs and the teachers' associations, but the 1871 program was not. The authors argue that much of this…

Details the development of item pools, or collections of test exercises, including specifying the domain of content; collecting/writing items; pilot testing; and publishing. Implications of item pools for guidance workers are presented. (BP)