Accompanying the still pervasive influence of the College English Test (CET), some universities in China, especially the higher-ranking ones, have in recent years devised and implemented their own local English testing regimes. This significant shift, however, has captured limited research attention. Building on considerations in local language…

The manual is presented in the form of a policy grid. The grid includes a consolidated list of General Educational Development (GED) Testing Service policies regarding the GED® test and overall GED® program. The grid combines all of the policies into one unified table and supersedes any prior policy manual.

Compiled information from 31 countries to study trends in large-scale testing. Shows a clear trend toward adding, not dropping, testing programs. Twenty-seven countries show a net increase in testing, while only three show a decrease. Fifty-nine testing programs have been added; only four have been dropped. (SLD)

A critical, but often neglected, component of any large-scale assessment program is the reporting of test results. In the past decade, a body of evidence has been compiled that raises concerns over the ways in which these results are reported to and understood by their intended audiences. In this study, current approaches for reporting…

Describes educational assessment in Singapore and discusses changes planned to focus assessment on more real-life situations while taking into account research on learning and critical thinking. (SLD)

When the drive to develop and administer tests comes from a public call for accountability in a profession, from the government's response to this call, or from politicians attempting to identify a hot issue, it may be said that the test must first have political validity in order to be implemented. Only after this political validity has been…

A recently developed model of validation (T. J. Crooks, M. T. Kane, and A. S. Cohen, 1996) is briefly outlined. It conceptualizes assessment as divided into a chain of eight linked stages: (1) administration; (2) scoring; (3) aggregation; (4) generalization; (5) extrapolation; (6) evaluation; (7) decision; and (8) impact. The model is then used to…

Compares examination practices at the end of secondary schooling in England, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Japan, People's Republic of China, Sweden, Soviet Union, and the United States. Considers the present status of these national examination systems, their alteration by social and educational changes, and their shaping of educational…

Explains the new format of the University Entrance and Bursary Examinations for New Zealand. Points out that open-ended questions based on field work carry the same weight as those questions referred to as internal assessment. Concludes that these types of questions allow the teacher to cover a greater range of topics. (GG)

A case study in a developing country raises issues about the use of tests for educational selection. Issues concerning secondary school admission in developing countries have counterparts in admission criteria for higher education in developed nations. However, one case study of one system cannot provide definitive conclusions for others. (SLD)

Five articles in this special issue present the approaches to accountability found in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland, provinces that represent 85% of all Canadian elementary and secondary school students. The articles are then discussed by representatives of four national Canadian educational associations. (SLD)

Reviews the origin, practice, and effects of the "payment by results" law in late nineteenth-century England, in which elementary education was funded on the basis of students' examination results. Argues that such a system of educational accountability severely hampered development of English and Welsh elementary education. (PAA)

This document provides the following 13 conference papers: (1) "Introduction: Where Do We Go From Here?" (D. J. Bateson); (2) "The Context of Classroom Procedures in Evaluating Students" (R. J. Wilson); (3) "Student Evaluation in the Ungraded Primary School: The SCRP (Systematic Cumulative Record of Performance)…

Looks at school-based assessment within a norm-referenced framework which replaced external examinations for all year levels of high school in Queensland (Australia) beginning in 1973. Suggests that changes have made little advance, have used an enormous amount of resources, but have acted as an impetus to examine assessment and curriculum. (PK)

Explores issues involved in using assessments to define standards and encourage efforts to meet them and compares the European examination system with the American testing system. Also considered are issues of the definition of learning domains in ways that do not encourage narrowly focused training on specific assessment items. (SLD)