The synergy, or lack thereof, between large-scale and classroom assessment has been fiercely debated in both academic and policy spheres for decades around the world. This paper seeks to explicate how different countries are utilizing large-scale testing and test results at the classroom level. Through country profiles, this paper analyzes…

PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) is the fourth assessment in the current trend series, following PIRLS 2001, 2006, and 2011. There were 61 participants in PIRLS 2016, including 50 countries and 11 benchmarking entities (e.g., regions of countries as well as additional grades or language groups from the participating…

In this era of accountability-by-numbers, the elevated status accorded to large-scale external assessments such as the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is symptomatic of a trend towards data-driven policy initiatives in education, and the need for regular sources of outcome data to constantly feed narrow indicators of…

Assessing the comparability of different groups is an issue facing many researchers and evaluators in a variety of settings. Commonly, null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is incorrectly used to demonstrate comparability when a non-significant result is found. This is problematic because a failure to find a difference between groups is not…

Ethnic origin is one factor that may influence the rate or sequence of infant motor development, interpretation of screening test results, and decisions regarding early intervention. The primary purpose of this study is to compare motor development screening test scores from infants of Asian and European ethnic origins. Using a cross-sectional…

The intention of Performance-Based Accountability (PBA) policies is to foster school changes to enhance student learning and success. The influence of variation in these approaches, however, has not been empirically determined. This article employs a new conceptual framework to describe PBA models and compare them across contexts. We conducted a…

Large-scale assessment regularly takes place in most jurisdictions across Canada, a fact not lost on the Fraser Institute and other right wing think tanks such as AIMS (Atlantic Institute for Market Studies) which use the test results as the primary basis for compiling school rankings at both the elementary and secondary level (see Gutstein,…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of results from the January 1997 administration of the Mathematics 30 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of results from the January 1997 administration of the Mathematics 33 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of the results from the January 1997 administration of the Chemistry 30 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of the results from the January 1997 administration of the Biology 30 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of results from the January 1997 administration of the Physics 30 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school and…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of results from the January 1997 administration of the Science 30 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school and…

This report on the 1977 mathematics assessment of British Columbian students in grades 4, 8, and 12 describes the item specification model; test administration procedures; results for each grade level; and overall results correlated to sex, mother tongue, and parental level of schooling. (SJL)

The valid interpretation of international testing program results in mathematics and science must recognize inherent limitations to international comparisons, and should give opportunity-to-learn as much importance as achievement data. Canadian test results, looked at in this light, appear better than some critics have suggested. (Author/SLD)