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The article is a response by Mary Hilton to an article in the December 2007 issue of the "British Educational Research Journal" that critiqued an article of hers published in the December 2006 issue. The original article was a criticism by Hilton of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) as a means of measuring literacy internationally. Hilton feels that the examination did not account for unidimensionality and that the tests were biased both linguistically and culturally against minority children or those with inadequate English language skills. Hilton also addresses criticisms she had expressed for the texts that were chosen for the test. The PIRLS results were, Hilton states, were exaggerated by the New Labour Party and were adopted into a political agenda.

The article comments on the ways in which the education system and student performance in Great Britain is evaluated, focusing on the role of standardized national tests such as the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exam. Topics include testing validity, the role of coursework in assessment, and the attitudes of English literature teachers.