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The Programme for International Assessment (PISA) is an important cross-national study of 15-year olds academic achievement. Although it has traditionally been conducted using paper-and-pencil tests, the vast majority of countries will use computer-based assessment from 2015. In this paper, we consider how cross-country comparisons of children’s skills differ between paper and computer versions of the PISA mathematics test. Using data from PISA 2012, where more than 200,000 children from 32 economies completed both paper and computer versions of the mathematics assessment, we find important and interesting differences between the two sets of results. This includes a substantial drop of more than 50 PISA test points (half a standard deviation) in the average performance of children from Shanghai-China. Moreover, by considering children’s responses to particular test items, we show how differences are unlikely to be solely due to the interactive nature of certain computer test questions. The paper c...

In the main, attention to disciplinary practices has been neglected in assessment and feedback research (Coffey et al., 2011; Cowie & Moreland, 2015). Only recently, the longstanding interest in authentic assessment (e.g. Wiggins, 1989) has re-surfaced in higher education literature on authentic assessment design (Ashford-Rowe et al., 2014; Villarroel et al., 2018) and authentic feedback (Dawson et al., 2020).\ud To address this gap, in our 2019 call for papers for this special issue, we sought articles that would explore the potential of what we called ‘signature’ assessment and feedback practices. Just as signature pedagogies (Shulman, 2005) have directed attention to discipline- and profession-specific teaching practices in higher education, we used the term ‘signature’ to invite researchers and educators to consider discipline-specific assessment and feedback practices. While these signatures will be authentic to a discipline, the term implies that they will be uniquely characteristic of a particular discipline. Thus, we invited researchers and educators to dig deeply into what makes a discipline or profession special and distinct from other fields. Because attention to disciplines has the potential to connect primary and secondary with tertiary education, which is often siloed in its own journals, the call for papers also explicitly sought examples from different levels of education.\ud Two years later, this special issue contains five theoretically framed and grounded empirical papers that: a) situate particular assessment and feedback practices within a discipline; b) analyse how engagement with those assessment and feedback activities allows students to participate more fully or effectively within the disciplinary or professional community, and c) illuminate new aspects of assessment and feedback. We (Quinlan and Pitt, this issue) conclude this special issue with an article that draws on the five empirical papers to construct a taxonomy for advancing research on signature assessment and feedback practices.

Omitted prior achievement bias is pervasive in international assessment studies and precludes causal inference. For example, reported negative associations between student-oriented teaching strategies and student performance are against expectations and might actually reflect omitted prior achievement bias. Namely, that these teaching strategies are negatively correlated with unobserved prior achievement performance, because teachers offer more support to lower performing students, and not that these strategies cause lower performance. This paper examines omitted prior achievement bias in teaching effects with prior achievement data available for students in England participating in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Further, it proposes an analytical approach to account for omitted prior achievement bias in international estimates. The paper argues that the bias is not simply a technical artefact, but reflects educational mechanisms unobserved in international assessment studies, which can be captured with matched assessment data-sets or with evidence from previous studies. Estimates of these mechanisms can be used to postulate scenarios of the bias across education systems and thereby adjust international estimates of teaching effects as if prior achievement were observed. Potentials and limitations of this approach for studying educational effectiveness with international assessment data are discussed. 25 1 5 27

AbtractThis article focuses on how assessment practices are used by teachers to develop and maintain their own professional standing – how assessment works for them as professionals and the work they must do with it to be successful. Reporting on an empirical study involving interviews with 12 primary Key Stage 2 (7–11 years) teachers and using an analysis focused on teachers’ accumulation of capital through their work, the paper examines how teachers construct assessment data in particular, often carefully managed, ways. This, in turn, subjectifies both pupils and the teachers themselves in ways which create tensions in practice. The paper argues that high-stakes accountability through assessment is unlikely to be helpful in two ways: firstly, it does not actually do what teachers claim in accurately measuring pupils’ progress; secondly, that it is likely to lead to pedagogy that has negative effects on them as learners.

Informed by Goffman’s influential essay on ‘The neglected situation’ this paper examines the contextual and interactive dimensions of performance in large-scale educational assessments. The paper applies Goffman’s participation framework and associated theory in linguistic anthropology to examine how testing situations are framed and enacted as social occasions. It considers assessment as a shared focus of social activity, located in time and space, involving an assemblage of artefacts and actors. The paper presents ethnographic examples of adult literacy and numeracy assessment in Mongolia. The first part provides ethnographic description of a testing situation. The second part looks in detail at how linguistic interaction influences assessment performance.

This paper focuses on promoting fairness and equity in student assessment practices. The researchers used questionnaires and interviews and the study encompassed a total of 3312 individuals representing a range of stakeholders. The paper is presented in two parts: fairness and discrimination, and challenging policy and practice. Five key principles emerged. Educators must strive to address the personal impact of assessment practices on individual students and their families. Assessment must be differentiated to accommodate the ability, social, cultural and linguistic background of students. All members of school communities must challenge the complacency associated with accepting indefensible assessment practices. The frequency, intensity and intrusiveness of assessments must not be overwhelming for students and their families. Finally, assessment must not be used to counter inappropriate student behaviour or reward desired behaviour. Implications for practice are presented. Additionally, the authors desc...

This paper describes how a state education system in Australia introduced standards-referenced assessments into its large-scale, high-stakes, curriculum-based examinations in a way that enables comparison of performance across time even though the examinations are different each year. It describes the multi-stage modified Angoff standard-setting procedure used to establish cut-off scores on subject examinations, and how the results from this exercise were then used to develop standards packages. These packages illustrate the performances of students at the borders between the various bands. The paper also shows how originally it was intended to use a Rasch measurement model to create the statistical feedback used in the standard-setting procedure. It also describes the modifications to the feedback that were necessary to meet the real-time constraints of this large-scale examination programme. It argues that consideration should now be given to using the Rasch model to provide this feedback instead of the...

It is important for educational assessment bodies to demonstrate how they are seeking to meet the demands of validity. The approach to validity taken here assumes a ‘consequentialist’ view where the appropriacy of the inferences made on the basis of assessment results is seen as central. This paper describes the development of a systematic approach to the collection of evidence that can support claims about validity for general qualifications. An operational framework was developed drawing on Kane (2006). The framework involves a list of inferences to be justified as indicated by a number of linked validation questions. For each question various data would be gathered to provide ‘evidence for validity’ and to identify any ‘threats to validity’. The structure is designed to be accessible for operational users. This paper describes the development of the proposed framework and the types of methods to be used to gather relevant evidence.

With more constructivist approaches to learning in higher education and more value on teamwork skills, students' oracy (speaking and listening) features more prominently in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. The paper reports on a study of two first‐year Australian university courses in disciplines with explicit industry orientations and high proportions of international students. Drawing on classroom observations and interviews with the lecturers, this paper investigates their pedagogical designs on oracy and the oracy demands of their assessment tasks. The study found that talk‐based assessment tasks (a group project and a group oral presentation) featured in both courses but the two courses treated students' oracy differently: as product or process. The contrast between the two assessment designs explicates issues around EAL (English as an additional language) student needs, authentic links to industry, the provenance of criteria used to assess performance, perceptions about the relevance of talk and...

This paper covers six interrelated issues in formative assessment (aka, ‘assessment for learning’). The issues concern the definition of formative assessment, the claims commonly made for its effectiveness, the limited attention given to domain considerations in its conceptualisation, the under-representation of measurement principles in that conceptualisation, the teacher-support demands formative assessment entails, and the impact of the larger educational system. The paper concludes that the term, ‘formative assessment’, does not yet represent a well-defined set of artefacts or practices. Although research suggests that the general practices associated with formative assessment can facilitate learning, existing definitions admit such a wide variety of implementations that effects should be expected to vary widely from one implementation and student population to the next. In addition, the magnitude of commonly made quantitative claims for effectiveness is suspect, deriving from untraceable, flawed, dated, or unpublished sources. To realise maximum benefit from formative assessment, new development should focus on conceptualising well-specified approaches built around process and methodology rooted within specific content domains. Those conceptualisations should incorporate fundamental measurement principles that encourage teachers and students to recognise the inferential nature of assessment. The conceptualisations should also allow for the substantial time and professional support needed if the vast majority of teachers are to become proficient users of formative assessment. Finally, for greatest benefit, formative approaches should be conceptualised as part of a comprehensive system in which all components work together to facilitate learning.

This paper describes some of the findings of a project which set out to explore and develop teachers’ understanding and practices in their summative assessments. The focus was on those summative assessments that are used on a regular basis within schools for guiding the progress of pupils and for internal accountability. The project combined both intervention and research elements. The intervention aimed both to explore how teachers might improve those practices in the light of their re‐examination of their validity, and to engage them in moderation exercises within and between schools to audit examples of students’ work and to discuss their appraisals of these examples. This paper reports findings, arising from this work, of the research that aimed to study how teachers understand validity, and how they formulate their classroom assessment practices in the light of that understanding. The paper also considers how that understanding might be challenged and developed. It was found that teachers’ attention ...

Equity in assessment concerns all educational authorities and practitioners. While educators commonly consider issues of equity in terms of accommodations for students with special needs, or addressing cultural difference, equity issues in educational assessment have emerged outside these bases. This paper examines equity assessment issues, drawing predominantly on case history from the United States of America (US) with examples from Australia and England, to demonstrate areas that may draw legal consideration. The discussion shows that the legal standard to establish inequity is high and sometimes illogical from an educational perspective. The paper is intended to assist understanding of legal implications of educational assessment in order to reduce the likelihood of legal claims and the resultant redirection of valuable resources from educational provision. The discussion is also intended to broaden thinking on matters that impact on the provision of equitable educational and assessment opportunities ...

This paper draws on semi‐structured interview data and participant observations of senior secondary Physical Education (PE) teachers and students at two school sites across 20 weeks of the school year. The data indicated that the teachers in this study made progressive judgements about students’ level of achievement across each unit of work without explicit or overt reference to the criteria and standards represented in the schools’ work programmes and in the Senior PE syllabus. The teachers’ justification for such an approach was that the criteria and standards had become for them sufficiently ‘internalised’. Determining students’ levels of achievement was for the teachers somewhat ‘intuitive’, being reliant on their memory of students’ performances, and influenced by the construct‐irrelevant affective characteristics of the students. It is argued in this paper that such construct‐irrelevance compromised the construct validity and possible inter‐rater reliability of the decisions made and advantaged some...

This paper reports a study of the classroom assessment practices of 12 sixth form college mathematics teachers in Malta. It explores the extent to which these teachers are knowledgeable about their students’ learning of mathematics and the implications that this has for their classroom practices. It reveals that these teachers’ knowledge of their students’ understanding of certain mathematical concepts is fairly limited. It then goes on to discuss this phenomenon in terms of a process that can hinder rather than promote learning. The research illuminates the position of teachers who appear to lack certain detailed information about their students which, it can be argued, could inform more effective teaching strategies. The paper concludes by exploring possible implications for similar situations where learning could be enhanced by more effective classroom assessment strategies and their use to inform future teaching and learning activities.

In many education systems, young peoples’ ‘disaffection’ is increasingly equated with non‐participation in education, training and employment. There is also an expectation that educational activity can provide a key response to this situation. Drawing upon a case study of a successful development project based in Bristol, England which utilized an ‘alternative’ assessment regime in raising the participation and attainments of young people defined as disengaged from schooling, the paper considers a series of key issues. These include: the nature of the provision; the difficulties of understanding and evaluating it in a climate of performativity; a distinctive concept of learning promoted by the assessment practices; and the role of individual and networked professional mediation in creating the ‘space’ for the initiative. The paper concludes that the case study project represents a ‘marriage of convenience’ between the expectations of a culture of performativity and, on the other hand, a horizontal communi...

In this paper, I will argue that it is possible to use data from large‐scale international and national mathematics assessment programmes, whose attention is on summative achievement, to provide formative information that informs teachers about the effects of their classroom practice. However, to have impact on, and be useful for, classroom practitioners, these achievement data need to be reworked and re‐presented in ways that are plausible, provide a basis for inferences about practice, and be appropriate for the intended audience. This paper examines achievement‐focused assessment programmes in terms of their aims and approaches, and develops the argument that formative assessment possibilities are present, within these programmes, although usually hidden. Examples are drawn from several sources to support this argument, and demonstrate a variety of approaches that have been taken in the past. Suggestions for further action are made.

hk This paper focuses on reconfiguring assessment processes so that they support a learning function, in addition to the more traditional measurement function. In the first half of the paper we discuss a framework for ‘learning-oriented assessment’ derived from a project carried out in Hong Kong. We conceptualize learning-oriented assessment as containing three key components: assessment tasks as learning tasks; student involvement in assessment; and explicitly forward-looking feedback. The second half of the paper presents an action research case in which the first author implemented some of the principles of learning-oriented assessment within a module in a teacher education context. The module, focusing on multimedia and web authoring, was taught through blended learning with an emphasis on peer learning and project-based learning. A particular feature was the interplay between students’ learning experiences and the module assessments.

The paper examines the rationale and the uses of portfolios in initial teacher education. This rationale is then applied to explore the development and implementation of the Professional Development Portfolio (PDP) as an integral part of the initial teacher education programme offered by the Faculty of Education, University of Malta. The paper considers the responses of students and lecturers to this mode of assessment; in particular, how the tensions between the formative and summative functions of portfolios were experienced and responded to at institutional level. The paper is the result of the debates and discussions among the three authors. Deborah Chetcuti and Grace Grima were directly involved in the development of the assessment innovation, Patricia Murphy was a visiting academic and external examiner during the period.

Whilst there is evidence of significant investment in policy-led initiatives to raise attainment in schools, there is rather less evidence of the positive impact of such initiatives. In this paper we explore stakeholder views of recent initiatives in assessment in Scotland in an attempt to discern the relationships between assessment policy, research and practice in schools. Against a background of major assessment initiatives and by drawing on data from two national consultations, the paper illustrates the complexities inherent in following advice for policy developments to begin from where people are now. Finally, the paper explores the possibility of a new assessment journey for researchers, teachers and policy-makers, one which acknowledges the complex process of community-based transformational change.

This paper considers alternative assessment, feedback and cybernetics. For more than 30 years, debates about the bi-polarity of formative and summative assessment have served as surrogates for discussions about the workings of the mind, the social implications of assessment and, as important, the role of instruction in the advancement of learning. Currently, alternative assessment lives uneasily with its classical counterpart. Classical test theory--and its conception of the summative value of the true score--came from behaviourist learning theories developed in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Formative assessment, with its conceptions of feedback and development, had a different origin. It arose from cognitive and constructivist theories of learning that emerged in the 1930s and 1940s. This paper identifies the tensions that underpin this uneasy coexistence. It suggests that different conceptions of mind lie behind these tensions and, to mark the autonomy and integrity of formative asse...

This paper presents the results of an experimental evaluation of a change in assessment practice in one comprehensive secondary school. The school divided 104 Year 7 pupils into four mixed-ability teaching groups. One of these was given enhanced formative feedback on their work for one year, but no marks or grades. The other three groups were given marks and grades with minimal comments, which was the usual prior practice in this school (and many others). Using data derived from assessment, prior attainment, pupil attitudes and background information, we conducted a contextualized analysis of progress in the four teaching groups for all subjects. This showed that progress in the treatment group (formative feedback only) was substantially inferior to that of the other three groups. In this paper, we also use data from observation of the process and from group interviews with the students involved, to help explain these results. Our findings are relevant to a consideration of the often lessened impact of re...

This paper analyses aspects of a Hong Kong school curriculum reform, which recommends amongst other things, a greater focus on assessment for learning. It outlines the principles of the reform as it pertains to assessment and discusses how structural changes are being employed to lend support to changes in the assessment culture in Hong Kong. The paper draws on a previous problematic attempt to introduce formative assessment through the Target-Oriented Curriculum initiative. Two examples of assessment for learning practice of 'early adopters' are used to illustrate both the potential and some of the challenges of implementation in the Hong Kong primary school context. From these cases, are drawn out some of the facilitating and inhibiting factors impinging on the implementation of assessment for learning in schools, building on a model of professional growth.

This paper sets out the findings from a large‐scale analysis of the Northern Ireland Transfer Procedure Tests, used to select pupils for grammar schools. As it was not possible to get completed test scripts from government agencies, over 3000 practice scripts were completed in simulated conditions and were analysed to establish whether the tests present a valid means of selection. The analysis replicated the official processes using age adjustments, standardization and weightings. The results, which have been officially conceded, are startling. The highest and lowest grades (A and D) were separated by as few as 18 of the total of 150 available marks and the standard error of measurement was of the order of 4.75. The most serious implication of this finding is that the candidate ranking system has the potential to misclassify up to two‐thirds of the test‐taking cohort by as many as three grades. The paper also highlights other major problems in the tests’ design, for example, their ‘easiness’, which causes...

This paper argues for an expanded conception of test validity, in which teachers, as end-users of tests, contribute a distinctive perspective on validity, referred to as inferential validity. It also offers a methodology that could be adopted in order to subject this dimension of validity to scrutiny. An investigation conducted into the meanings constructed by teachers of a literacy test, the Emergent Literacy Baseline Assessment (ELBA), is reported to illustrate the methodology. In the first section of the paper, current conceptions of validity are discussed. It is argued that the validation process for tests should include the clarification and justification of the interpretations and uses of observed scores. This argument is illustrated from the methodology for investigating the validity of the ELBA. Self-assessment questionnaires and focus-group interviews provided data on teachers' views about the validity of the ELBA. Arguments in favour of investigating the validity of large-scale tests by taking i...

With the pre-service student portfolio process and product well in hand in a paper-based format, in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) (B.Ed. Primary) at University of Western Sydney (UWS), new horizons have presented themselves. These new possibilities are facilitated but not driven by developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The impetus for this study comes from the changing context in which the students will work and from the rapidly evolving mediums of communication employed by the society these future teachers will serve. With new technologies being developed the use of digital portfolios could give an extra dimension to student learning as well as giving choice and variety to the reporting and presenting of that learning. This paper aims to report on the process of the development of digital portfolios as an alternative method of reporting and presenting student learning, as opposed to the current paper-based portfolios used in Pre-service Teacher Education at UWS. A study of...

This paper discusses the use of a particular form of image-based concept mapping to explore how students aged 10–16 conceptualise the role of computers in today's world. The theoretical basis for the approach is the Vygotskian theories of Wertsch and Cole, which suggest that mediation of human activity through new information and communication technologies has the potential to transform human capabilities. Wartofsky's work on human perception suggests that an important element of this process of mediation is the development of mental representations of networked technologies which make it possible to use them creatively and develop skills in their use quickly and easily. Two methods of analysis of the concept maps are described, one based on phenomenography, the other on semiotics. The paper ends with discussion of the pedagogical implications of the findings.

This paper discusses two computerised assessment tools, built on problem-based tasks that collect data on criteria such as change of attitudes and the use of thinking strategies. Examples of the application of the new tools are presented, and comments are made about the problem-solving process and the use and analysis of resulting data. The nature of the data generated required an innovative model of interpretation. This paper shows that there is a pattern underlying the production of such tools, which underpins models for the creation of new problem-based tasks, planning their use in teaching situations, and large-scale assessments.

The principle that ‘what you test is what you get’ is widely appreciated in education, so conventional examinations—bound by the limits of pen and paper—are often criticised for preventing teachers and students from fully embracing the new opportunities that modern technology provides. In this paper we argue that the need to be fair to students regardless of their schools’ technological capabilities, and the requirement to avoid sudden discontinuities so that standards may be compared, may require a transitional period when computer and paper versions of conventional external examinations run in parallel, creating little scope initially for new types of assessment. We outline some of the issues that must be considered and the difficulties that must be overcome before conventional examinations can be computerised, and describe two illustrative cases. We conclude by noting how the computerisation of conventional examinations could lead to substantial changes to the nature of external assessment.

This paper presents the procedures and findings of a systematic review of research on the impact of testing on students' motivation for learning. The review was undertaken to provide evidence in relation to claims that, on the one hand, testing raises standards and, on the other, that testing, particularly in high stakes contexts, has a negative impact on motivation for learning that militates against preparation for lifelong learning. Motivation is considered as a complex concept, closely aligned with 'the will to learn', and encompassing self-esteem, self-efficacy, effort, self-regulation, locus of control and goal orientation. The paper describes the systematic methodology of the review and sets out the evidence base for the findings, which serve to substantiate the concern about the impact of summative assessment on motivation for learning. Implications for policy and practice are drawn from the findings.

In this paper we explore the literacy-curriculum interface reconceptualising this relationship in terms of curriculum literacies . The reconceptualisation is an outcome of a major Australian research study that examined the literacy demands of curriculum in senior schooling. The study was multidisciplinary, multi-theoretical in nature, involving a team of international researchers with expertise in literacy and in curriculum. The paper argues the need for exploring the coherence of literacy demands that students encounter in managing their learning in different contexts and disciplines and the need to incorporate these demands explicitly in instruction and assessment. Our conclusion is that the reconceptualisation of curriculum literacies challenges current constructs of assessment and calls for the domains of assessment to be expanded to include curriculum knowledge, and epistemological domains that take account of diverse ways of working with and in semiotic systems. Student success across the years of schooling hinges on their increasing control of this combination of knowledges and ability to use these productively.

In many countries today schools have been subjected to a testing and accountability agenda tied to a return to 'basic skills' in reading, maths and science and a demand that all children, regardless of race and class, learn these skills. In this paper I argue that current work in sociolinguistics, cognitive science, and literacy studies, work not directly involved with assessment, suggests a more complicated view of assessment and its ties with learning and equity. This view challenges the current testing and accountability agenda, but can also redefine more broadly how we have to think about learning, assessment, and equity in schools. I develop this view around one key notion, namely opportunity to learn . In each section of the paper I discuss some area of current research relevant to learning and assessment and then state a principle about opportunity to learn. While I centre my discussion around assessing reading, in the end I make clear that my argument applies to assessment of all content areas in ...

This paper draws together various strands of argument in the emerging field of 'New Literacy Studies' to put forward the view that we need to re-evaluate how literacy is conceptualised, taught and assessed. Three central themes form the basis of the argument. First, the paper points to the emergence of the so-called new economy and globalisation, and argues that the skills and knowledge base required to cope effectively with the demands of work and the demands of everyday life are increasingly changing, and differ in important ways from some of the basic skills associated with the current literacy curriculum. Second, the paper argues that society is becoming increasingly plural and diverse, and, as such, forefronts many different ways in which people make shared meaning. Yet assessment apparently requires a single standard by which meaning is validated and this, it seems, calls into question the democratic basis of learning and teaching. In the final section of the paper, we argue that we can learn from n...

The paper reports a study into children's literacy in Bangladesh. It presents reading and writing profiles of a stratified random sample of ten year-old children. The paper argues that while these profiles might be a valuable source of information for the Government of Bangladesh as well as for the international donor community, especially in that they provide diagnostic information of children's literacy development, they do not portray fully the potential of children as meaning-makers. A small number of children from those who performed poorly in assessments of reading and writing were subjected to a further study in which they participated in a 'designing and making' activity. Here, the multiple modes through which children communicated meaning and understanding became the focus of the assessment. This means that we did not look solely at the linguistic mode but focused also on 'mediated action' as a mode through which meaning is made. Thus the potential of children to represent meaning and to create a...

This paper presents a review of assessment procedures in the small state of Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China under the 'one country two systems' policy. The situation of Macau is used as a critical case study of some questionable educational practices that can occur when testing runs without restraint. The paper presents quantitative and qualitative data from two empirical studies to argue that testing--largely, in this case, the testing of students' ability to repeat book knowledge and facts--if left unchecked, becomes part of a dependency culture, a hermetically sealed system in which curricula and testing mutually reinforce each other in producing a low-level, facts-driven curriculum, dangerously didactic pedagogy, rote learning, poor student motivation, and a powerful controlling mechanism on teachers and students. What is disturbing is that this is the very system which many participants in education in Macau seem to want.

The forms that assessment takes are widely recognised as determinants of educational practice. This paper, however, argues that a teacher's professional consciousness is a more fundamental determinant of teaching practice. To explore the issue, this paper examines data from a larger study which set out to examine the relationship between teachers' practice and their beliefs in the context of a mandatory school-based assessment scheme. Using a theoretical framework that advocates an emancipatory approach to educational changes, it was found that some teachers adopted a passive role regarding policy interpretation and implementation while others adopted a more critical stance in interpreting the policy requirements, demonstrating a more proactive approach in its implementation. The emancipatory approach is conceptualised in terms of three key dimensions: professional confidence, professional interpretation and professional consciousness. The findings of the study carry implications for teacher professional ...

The importance of personal and social development (PSD) has come to the fore in recent school developments. This raises theoretical and practical questions about assessment in this area. This paper is concerned with these general issues as they relate to what is broadly designated the field of special educational needs. The paper reports on research from two recent and related special school-based development projects. The first project showed the importance attached to PSD in the views of special school teachers. A formative, negotiated model of assessing PSD, called the provided framework model, was developed for trial and comparison with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) PSD P level descriptors. This alternative model was adapted on the basis of this trial and then evaluated again in a second larger scale project. The paper identifies key issues about assessment purposes, assumptions about PSD, assessment techniques, the inclusiveness of assessment systems and assessment reliability and...

This paper describes the admissions process to higher education in Israel, which is frequently debated in public. It presents the historical background, outlines the psychometric considerations, summarises the extensive research data gathered in validity and evaluation studies, and provides the social and political perspectives. The paper points to how developments in the volume and importance of higher education have affected the way upper-secondary certificates mediate university entrance. Particular reference is made as to how far the pressures are changed by the use of a psychometric entrance test. Two laws, dealing with admissions to higher education, that are currently being put to vote in the Israeli parliament, are described and discussed.

This paper examines the process of implementing peer assessment in higher education. In order to discover the aspects by which the method could be utilised to its full potential, it has been tried out among diverse types of students using an action research approach. The paper depicts the way the method was introduced and portrays students' reactions. It demonstrates the contribution of previous exposure to peer assessment, of a good preparation process and of student involvement in criteria setting to building up student confidence in using the method. It further shows how student involvement in establishing the assessment criteria contributes to their learning process. Based on the results of the action research, the paper recommends introducing peer assessment into the curriculum gradually and in a consistent way while involving students in the process of criteria setting and making the method relevant to student learning and future careers.

In the context of a broader research study on the intercultural understanding of teachers in Australia, Japan and Thailand, this paper focuses on approaches to learning and the role of assessment in shaping such approaches. Popular contrasts portray Asian learners as compliant and favouring rote memorisation and Western learners as independent and favouring deep, conceptual learning. Yet Asian students frequently outperform their Western counterparts in competitive tests purported to measure higher cognitive skills. Biggs and his associates have challenged the stereotypical view of Asian students as rote learners as a Western misperception. But data from the present cross-cultural study suggest it is more than a Western misperception, being shared by teachers in Japan and Thailand. With this background, this paper then explores the role of assessment through an analysis of examination papers in the three countries at the high stakes, year 12 level. This analysis of the ways in which knowledge and comprehe...

This paper is about how teachers read student writing in the context of criteria-based assessment as it currently operates in secondary schools in Queensland, Australia. Throughout, the term 'reading' is understood to encompass responding to students' writing and assessing it for grading purposes. In the paper, attention focuses on different types of knowledge that teachers have available to them, including what is referred to metaphorically as 'knowledge files'. Of special interest are the ways in which knowledge files can be accessed to open up (or close down) pathways for reading student writing produced for assessment. Also of interest is the interplay that occurs between stated assessment criteria, as supplied to students when they commence an assessable task, and other considerations that influence how teachers read and ascribe meaning and value to student papers.

The term 'authentic assessment' has recently gained widespread use in education. This paper explores various ways in which authentic assessment is being interpreted and the relationship between these different interpretations and the original focus of authenticity in learning. The paper explores briefly the ways in which implicit and explicit beliefs about the nature of learning and knowledge formation direct the ways in which authentic assessment is interpreted and used. Educational issues that arise from some implementations of authentic assessment, identified as camouflage, simulation and abstraction, are discussed. The need for authentic assessment to be contextualised through a coherent teaching, learning and assessment domain is stressed.

This paper surveys some of the reforms that are being proposed and implemented in countries of Central and Eastern Europe. This term is taken to mean the former USSR and socialist countries of Europe. The paper is based on experience but, as much as possible, this experience has been supplemented by reference to documents written locally and by international project teams. In some cases (Slovenia, the Baltics and Bulgaria), reforms have already been implemented. In others (Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, and Moldova), internationally funded reforms are under way. In yet others (Latvia, Albania and FYR-Macedonia), assessment/examination reforms are under discussion. Farther to the east, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Georgia are also planning reforms to their assessment systems, in particular at the secondary/higher education interface. Two major trends are evident: (1) towards the definition of national standards; and (2) towards competence-based (as distinct from knowledge-based) assessment. Th...

This paper reports on the findings of a 2-year research project into the process of formative assessment in the science classrooms of 10 teachers. Formative assessment is defined as the process used by teachers and students to recognise and respond to student learning in order to enhance that learning, during the learning. The findings indicate that the teachers used two kinds of formative assessment, planned and interactive. Planned formative assessment involved the teachers eliciting and interpreting assessment information and then taking action. It tended to be carried out with the whole class. Interactive formative assessment involved the teachers in noticing, recognising and responding, and tended to be carried out with some individual students or small groups. This paper discusses these two types of formative assessment, how they are related, how they are integral to teaching and learning processes, and how they are dependent on teachers' pedagogical knowledge.

This paper reports on the evaluation of the final year of a three-year professional learning intervention underpinned by a student-centred model of feedback. School leaders, teachers, and students in 13 Australian state schools participated in the research. The professional learning was contextualised in Year 3 English, with a focus on writing. Data from school leader, teacher and student interviews, researcher field notes, classroom observations and student assessments were analysed to evaluate the impact of the intervention. Findings show the professional learning intervention was positively valued by teachers and school leaders. Evidence from multiple sources suggests that although there was variability in the nature of implementation, teachers and school leaders overall reported substantial changes to knowledge, skills, and classroom practices. Importantly, the results highlight substantial improvements in student self-regulation and writing achievement, providing evidence of the intervention’s positive impact.

An effective diagnostic test can play a key role in language learning, allowing strengths and weaknesses in students’ linguistic development to be identified and addressed. This paper describes the...

This paper describes the enlargement of the initial conception of formative assessment with reference to constructivist, sociocultural and situated theories of learning and the concept of co-regula...