This paper starts with an analysis of the twin purposes of an examination reform programme originally launched in Kenya during the 1970s: first, to broaden the spectrum of cognitive skills being tested; and second, to set up a feedback system based on the performance profiles, providing schools and teachers with guidance as to how pedagogy and…

The South African education system has witnessed significant changes since 1994 when the democratically elected government began the process of dismantling the inherited apartheid order. The primary focus of the transformation process was to address the twin imperative of equity and quality in education, particularly for the historically…

Aligning curriculum change and assessment reforms has been a topic of great concern in Namibia for over the past 23 years. This is because during the pre-colonial period and continuing in post-independence Namibia, national examinations have been used mainly for the certification and selection of learners at Junior and Senior secondary school…

Studies of the use of teacher judgement for summative assessment in the USA are considered in two general categories. (1) Studies of teacher classroom summative assessment, that is, teacher grading practices, have historically and currently emphasised the lack of validity and reliability of these judgements. (2) Studies of how teacher judgement…

Scotland, in common with many other countries internationally, has paid considerable attention to the development of assessment for learning. Currently, schools in Scotland are engaged in a major programme of curriculum and assessment reform, entitled Curriculum for Excellence. As part of the reform process, there is concern amongst practitioners,…

Long-standing concerns within the field of educational assessment consider the impact of assessment policy and practice as matters of equity, inequality and social justice. Yet educational assessment policy and practice continues to have powerful social consequences for key users such as children and young people. This paper re-positions these…

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…

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.…

This paper is about fairness (equity) in large-scale assessment systems within multicultural societies. It makes the key assumptions that fairness is fundamentally a sociocultural, rather than a technical, issue and that fair assessment cannot be considered in isolation from both the curriculum and the educational opportunities of the students.…

Scottish schools have provided performance data for five international surveys of attainment in mathematics since 1990. Performance measured against national targets and progression over time and between age-stages have been monitored nationally, on a regular basis, for 20 years, within the Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP) (Scotland). The…

This profile describes the key features of the assessment and examination systems of Latvia. A brief overview of the country and its education system is followed by a description of how summative assessment is conducted using a pragmatic blend of traditional school-based practices, standardized tests, and formal examinations which are centrally…