The last two decades have seen fast-moving and wholescale changes in the ways that education is now provided in French schools, in the nature of learner assessment, and in the form and scale of system evaluation. Innovation and reform have in part followed international trends, themselves triggered by the global impact of the international…

A Vygotskian approach to assessment is proposed by invoking the distinction between the development of lower and higher psychological functions. Higher psychological functions are specifically human and develop with the use of cultural tools via mediation. Accordingly, a distinction is made between tests that are based on association, which have…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading aims to measure reading comprehension for students in the United States and to monitor progress in our education system. NAEP Reading is developed based on an assessment framework document that is periodically revised to reflect the latest understandings about reading comprehension…

In this study we identify and compare the impact of standardised student assessment in England, an established neoliberal context, and in Denmark where a neoliberal education reform agenda is emerging in response to both national concerns and international governance. National reading tests for students aged 11-12 years, long established in…

Two major reforms have transformed California's K-12 education system over the past decade. To revamp English and mathematics instruction, the Common Core standards were adopted in 2010, with district implementation beginning several years later. In 2013, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was enacted to increase funding for disadvantaged…

This article looks at the changes made to examinations in England over recent decades and asks about the politics behind the changes. It considers how increasingly centralised the assessment regime has become, moving from a system where teachers could have a say in how pupils are assessed to a regime dominated by government approved tests. It…

Recently, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) completed a study to connect the scale of the North Carolina State End of Grade (EOG) Testing Program used for North Carolina's mathematics and reading assessments with NWEA's Rausch Interval Unit (RIT) scale. Information from the state assessments was used in a study to establish…

This study examines the effects of schools' implementation of a new system for testing on student reading. Data on seven Norwegian primary schools were obtained through participant journals and interviews conducted throughout a period of five years. The analyses draw upon Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, especially the framework for expansive…

In 2007, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute collaborated on "The Proficiency Illusion," a study that illustrated the issues created by having each state set its own standards for what constitutes student proficiency for reading and mathematics tests, while holding all states to the same…

Created by the U.S. Congress in 2006, the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) represents the first federal initiative targeted directly at state and district efforts to introduce performance measures into educator compensation. TIF responds to a growing body of evidence that existing pay structures do not respond to labor force realities or adequately…

The author reports the results of a study on the effectiveness of the Teacher Advancement Program in Chicago that contains performance-pay model pushed by the U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan. The study by Mathematica Policy Research finds that student test scores were no better for schools following the national Teacher Advancement Program…

Formative assessments--assessments that measure what students do and do not know, so that teachers can modify their instruction accordingly--have been widely hailed as a potential vehicle for improving student achievement. Yet little solid research evidence exists about their effectiveness, especially in reform-rich school districts. This study…

This paper presents information on Connecticut's education for 2012. Information is presented on the following: (1) Who Attends Connecticut Public Schools? (2010-2011); (2) Public School Data (2010-2011); (3) Connecticut's National Achievement Gap Rankings; (4) Changes in Connecticut K-12 Education; (5) Competitive Federal Stimulus Grants per…

Ninety-one fourth grade students (from special education, Chapter 1, low achieving regular education, and regular education) completed a silent Dreading-written retell measure in the fall and again in the spring. Results highlight the many unanswered questions that need to be addressed in implementing assessment reform, in the areas of format,…

At the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is the call for all students to be "proficient" in reading and mathematics by 2014. Yet the law expects each state to define proficiency as it sees fit and design its own tests. This study investigated three research questions related to this policy: (1) How consistent are various…