The implementation of "Merdeka Belajar -- Kampus Merdeka" (Freedom to Learn) in Indonesia urges universities to adapt and set changes in learning activities. One of the changes is the implementation of Project-Based Learning to increase students' activeness and creativity. This research aims to assess students' creative thinking on the…

External and standardized assessments based on student results are a contested education policy among school actors. Movements of opposition have emerged in different countries, especially in those contexts with high-stakes accountability systems. However, this phenomenon has not been analyzed in soft accountability systems. The objective of this…

This paper considers the sociology of education (SOE) as a modern human science. It suggests that the SOE is mired in a set of unreflexive, redemptive, Enlightment rationalities, and explores the messy relationships of the sociology with education that result from this. It is argues that the sociology of education has consistently failed to…

Background and Context: Statewide test-based accountability in the United States began with minimum competency assessments in public schools during the 1970s, starting in Florida and other Southern states. Controversies over IQ (intelligence quotient) testing contributed to the development of "criterion-referenced" exams that became the…

School examinations of student responses to literature often present poetry blind or "unseen", inviting decontextualised close reading consistent with the orientation-to-text associated with Practical Criticism (originating in the UK) and New Criticism (originating in the USA). The approach survives in the UK after curricular reforms and…

Art education in Hong Kong has undergone various changes in response to educational reform. In art assessment, a major change in the Hong Kong New Senior Secondary (NSS) Curriculum is the inclusion of art criticism as a compulsory component of the new public examination. Assessing students' abilities to interpret art in an art criticism public…

Turkey launched what is known as the 12-Year Compulsory Education Act in the 2012-2013 Fall term. This initiative has received criticism from different stakeholders, specifically from educators, who are among the most affected. Criticism from teachers shows a discrepancy between what is being changed and what teachers believe should be changed.…

This essay briefly describes some of the early AERA presidents who were empiricists, several of them directors of research, and how their work connects with some of the issues of design, measurement, analysis, and interpretation today. Beginning with the first president of AERA, a number of presidents through the late 1940s are highlighted, as…

As the adoption and execution of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have steadily increased, the debate community is presented with an opportunity to be more forward thinking and sustainable through the translation to curriculum planning and next-generation assessment as a movement towards Performance-Based Assessments. This paper focuses on…

In 2010, the authors conducted a formal review of the Queensland Conservatorium's Bachelor of Music programme to determine to what extent the programme prepared graduates for professional life in the 21st century. The process was informed by comprehensive performance indicator data and substantial feedback from staff, students, and other…

Asked to review the four articles that appear in this special issue of "Educational Psychologist," these authors discuss the articles in alphabetical order, describe their major arguments, analyze strengths and weaknesses from their perspective, and provide some considerations. The analysis section about each article brings their…

The Black and Wiliam 1998 paper, "Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment," was a landmark article. It crystallized hundred of studies to advance an argument that certain kinds of assessment by teachers and students in their own classrooms is one of the most effective ways to improve educational achievement. More than…

Background: National curriculum assessment (NCA) in England has been in place for nearly 20 years. It has its origins in a political desire to regulate education, holding schools accountable. However, its form and nature also reflect educational and curriculum concerns and technical assessment issues. Purpose: The aim of the article is to provide…