Why has large-scale standardised testing attracted such a bad press? Why has pedagogic benefit to be derived from test results been downplayed? The paper investigates this question by first surveying the pros and cons of testing in the literature, and goes on to examine educators' responses to standardised, large-scale tests in a sample of low…

The structure of two-tier testing is such that the first tier consists of a multiple-choice question and the second tier requires justifications for choices of answers made in the first tier. This study aims to evaluate two-tier tasks in "proportion" in terms of students' capacity to write and select justifications and to examine the effect of…

A representative sample of 237 twelfth-grade mathematics classrooms completed internationally developed achievement tests. What was taught, what teachers and teaching were like, students' attitudes and achievement, and comparisons with students in other countries are included. (MNS)

Information is provided on results from the Second International Mathematics Study conducted in 1981-82 in 236 eighth-grade classrooms in the United States. Content taught, teacher characteristics, types of instruction, attitudes, knowledge, and comparisons with students in other countries are discussed. (MNS)