Background and Context: Statewide test-based accountability in the United States began with minimum competency assessments in public schools during the 1970s, starting in Florida and other Southern states. Controversies over IQ (intelligence quotient) testing contributed to the development of "criterion-referenced" exams that became the…

It is imperative to note that the study reported on attempted to reimagine a link between underachievement and attrition in curriculum implementation. The contextual factors that affected achievement and resulted in attrition were worth further scrutiny. The study further reported the results of a pilot study conducted in the Western Cape, South…

In this study we trouble the notion of "grit" and "high-stakes" testing by focusing on the experiences and perspectives of Black and Latinx students labeled with dis/abilities with the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Through interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations with 15 Black and Latinx students…

In this article we develop a methodology for the joint value added analysis of multiple outcomes that takes into account the inherent correlation between them. This is especially crucial in the analysis of higher education institutions. We use a unique Colombian database on universities, which contains scores in five domains tested in a…

The main objective of this study was to work toward the development of a number of measures of student learning outcomes (SLOs) in higher education. Specifically, we used data from "Exame Nacional de Desempenho dos Estudantes" (ENADE), a college-exit examination developed and used in Brazil. The fact that Brazil administered the ENADE to…

The study set out to give a conceptual definition and assessment of Higher Order Thinking skills (HOTs), and establish the proportion of HOTs and Lower Order Thinking skills (LOTs) questions within the 2010- 2016 Uganda Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) questions. The study used secondary literature to define HOTs and provide an assessment…

This report looks at the provision of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) subjects in England in 2017. The data for these analyses were taken from the National Pupil Database (NPD). This is a database of results for all students in all subjects in schools and…

This report looks at the uptake of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) (and International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE)) subjects in England in 2016. The data for these analyses was taken from the National Pupil Database (NPD). This is a database held by the Department for Education, consisting of results for all…

Despite the significant influence that peer motivation is likely to have on educational investments during high school, it is difficult to test empirically since exogenous changes in peer motivation are rarely observed. In this paper, I focus on the 2012 introduction of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to study a setting in which peer…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it examines the extent of equity in the academic achievement distribution by analyzing Israeli students' high school matriculation scores, controlling for background characteristics (e.g. parental education) and for previous achievement. Second, it analyzes the trends in equity during the…

In this work, we elaborate on the changes and transformations in the Israeli education system (including higher education) from Israel's independence in 1948 to 2019. Specifically, the study places special emphasis on developments commencing in 1976 in response to the establishment of a separate administrative division for Druze and Circassian…

This article draws on three assessment paradigms -- psychometrics, outcomes-based and curriculum-based assessment -- to discuss paradigmatic changes in senior school assessment and achievement standard-setting in Queensland, Australia, over the last 50 years. These include radical reforms in 1970 from university-controlled examinations to…

In my role as programme leader of the BA (Hons) Criminal Justice and Criminology, I observed that students who entered with A-levels were more likely to achieve a 2:1 or 1st class degree than students from other routes of entry. Analysis of five cohorts showed that less than half of entrants with Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC)…

It is well established that test anxiety is negatively related to examination performance. Based on attentional control theory, the aim of this study was to examine whether increased effort can protect against performance debilitating test anxiety. Four hundred and sixty-six participants (male = 228; 48.9%; White = 346, 74.3%; mean age = 15.7…

The terminal examination of post-primary education in Ireland, the Leaving Certificate, is often criticised for the reliance on memory recall over higher order thinking skills in the assessment process. In order to examine the evidence base for these critiques, this article presents an empirical investigation of the intellectual skills and…