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This article examines the historical development of the state's actions in educational assessment in Chile from the nineteenth century to the present day, based on the analysis of governmental decrees and regulations related to assessment, and their variability over time. The research identifies six distinctive periods, each of which expresses a different definition of assessment. In these six periods, the state consistently used assessment as a policy tool, hence this phenomenon is not a new or modern one. That much said, the use by the state of assessment has changed its mode of action and purpose. What is distinctive about the present is not only the way in which the state controls education through assessment by demanding the attainment of standards, but also its underlying educational programme which supports the systemic socialisation and economic integration of subjects, rather than their social socialisation and development as citizens.

In this paper, we estimate the causal effect of an extra year of schooling on mathematics performance for seven Latin American countries based on PISA 2012. To that end we exploit exogenous variation in students' birthdates around the school entry cut-off date using both sharp and fuzzy Regression Discontinuity designs. We find strong effects of an extra year of schooling in most countries, which amount to a 30% increase in PISA test scores in Brazil, 18% in Uruguay, 7% in Argentina and 6% in Costa Rica. These effects differ from the typical estimates obtained from simple regressions or multilevel models and are large enough to allow 15-year-old students to reach higher proficiency levels, suggesting significant potential gains of reducing dropout rates in the region. Finally, we stress the importance of taking into account the effects of school entry cut-off dates on PISA samples to avoid making unfair international comparisons.

This paper investigates the validity of a national, standards-based teacher evaluation programme by examining the relationship between teachers' evaluation results and their students' learning progress. We used census achievement data that assessed the same cohort of students at the end of 8th and 10th grade. We applied multilevel modelling and calculated correlations between teachers' value-added estimates and their results based on the evaluation system's multiple measures of teaching quality, which include a portfolio of classroom teaching artefacts and a video-taped lesson, a peer interview, supervisor assessments and a self-assessment. Our study finds a medium-size positive relationship between value-added estimates in mathematics and teachers' portfolio results, while relationships with the other instruments are weaker. Correlations are lower for Spanish, but showing a similar pattern across instruments. We also find significant yet weak relationships between value-added estimates and three of six emerging factors of teaching practice based on the evaluation's portfolio data.

This paper makes the case for the need to study assessment reform processes from a broader and more complex perspective that takes the historical, ideological and systemic aspects of assessment policies into account. It draws on a larger study to demonstrate how the understanding of Assessment for Learning (AfL) reforms is enriched by such a perspective, taking the Chilean case as an illustrative example. The study draws on polysystems theory as an overarching theoretical tool and on critical discourse analysis and intertextuality as a means to reconstruct the polysystem of assessment reforms. These tools are used to analyse two types of sources: documents from different periods of Chilean history of education where reforms relevant to assessment were carried out, and interviews with policy authorities involved in the AfL reform as well as with teachers from different backgrounds and contexts.

Building assessment capacity of educators has historically been unregulated practice in post-independence Malawi. However, recent attempts by government to integrate curriculum and assessment reforms and the introduction of continuous assessment in the system have represented a significant policy shift. These and several other initiatives have necessitated the empowerment, in terms of assessment knowledge and skills, of educators at different levels of the system to support implementation of the reforms. This paper discusses the strategies that Malawi has followed so far to institutionalise the development of assessment capacity and highlights the challenges that it has faced in its efforts to improve the capacity of its staff in assessment. Key lessons for other African and developing nations from the Malawian experience have also been noted.

This paper describes convergent validity evidence regarding the mandatory, standards-based Chilean national teacher evaluation system (NTES). The study examined whether NTES identifies--and thereby rewards or punishes--the "right" teachers as high- or low-performing. We collected in-depth teaching performance data on a sample of 58 teachers who were evaluated by NTES as either "outstanding" (group 1) or "unsatisfactory" (group 2). The collected evidence included gains in student achievement scores, observation log data, expert ratings of a teaching materials binder, and teachers' scores on a subject and pedagogical knowledge test. The results support the validity of NTES' performance categorisations of the two extreme groups. The groups differed significantly on half of the performance indicators, and showed differences in the expected direction on the remaining indicators. We found especially strong and practically significant differences related to time on task during lessons, lesson structure, student behaviour, and student evaluation materials. We also found significant correlations between our results and the sample scores on three out of four NTES instruments. (Contains 4 notes and 2 tables.)

The Chilean national learning outcome assessment system (Sistema de Medicion de Calidad de la Educacion, SIMCE) has carried out census-based assessments since 1988 and publishes the results at both the national and school levels. During its 20 years of existence, SIMCE has experienced changes in its institutional framework, objectives, methodologies, uses, public perception and legitimacy. After two decades, SIMCE faces new challenges from a society that is pushing to increase accountability and consequences attached to assessment outcomes. The first section of this paper describes SIMCE's main features, purposes, institutional framework, and strategies for communicating results. Section two reviews SIMCE's history from limited to broader legitimacy, and from low to high stakes. In the Latin American context, the relevance of a legal and institutional framework guaranteeing the continuity and sustainability of a national assessment program is highlighted. The third section analyses the uses of the information SIMCE generates. The authors stress that the main lessons learned are that a census-based assessment system focuses attention on learning outcomes and impacts everyone, that published results make all actors accountable, that effectively communicating results is as important as accurately generating them, and that these elements help develop a culture of evaluation. (Contains 2 tables and 5 notes.)