This article explores the intersection of new, large-scale standards-based testing, teacher accountability policy, and secondary curriculum and instruction in the United States. Two federally funded consortia--the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and the Partnership for Readiness of College and Careers--prove focal to this paper, as these…

Large-scale assessment (LSA) is a tool used by education authorities for several purposes, including the promotion of teacher-based instructional change. In Canada, all 10 provinces engage in large-scale testing across several grade levels and subjects, and also have the common expectation that the results data will be used to improve instruction…

The authors review the influence of state, national and international large-scale assessments (LSAs) on education policy and research. They distinguish between two main uses of LSAs: as a means for conducting research that informs educational reform and LSAs as a tool for implementing standards and enforcing accountability. The authors discuss the…

This Forum discusses the significant growth of international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) since the mid-1990s. Addey and Sellar's contribution ("A Framework for Analysing the Multiple Rationales for Participating in International Large-Scale Assessments") outlines a framework of rationales for participating in ILSAs and examines the…

This article is a commentary of a paper by Derek C. Briggs and Frederick A. Peck, "Using Learning Progressions to Design Vertical Scales That Support Coherent Inferences about Student Growth," which describes an elegant potential framework for at least beginning to address three priorities in large-scale assessment that have not been…

International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) play a distinct role in the United States' decentralized federal education system. Separate from national and state assessments, they offer an external, objective measure for the United States to assess student performance comparatively with other countries and over time. The US engagement in ILSAs…

The Jomtien conference in 1990 on Education for All is seen by many as a turning point for the introduction of increased monitoring and evaluation of the quality of education systems around the world. Internationally, debates have arisen about the nature and frequency of assessment and its impact on education systems with its intended and…

This article describes briefly the education system of Cyprus and elaborates on the recent changes in its large-scale assessment (LSA) programme. Until 2005, two independent LSA programmes existed: one for school-graduation purposes and one for gaining entrance to higher education. The introduction of a dual-purpose LSA program in 2006, due to…

In this article, the influence of global processes on international mathematics curricula as evidenced by item responses to 3 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) administrations (1995, 1999, and 2003) is considered. Based on Dale's (2000) argument, we set out to test 2 plausible impacts of global processes on education.…

A long-held ambition for many educators and assessment experts has been to integrate summative and formative assessments so that data from external assessments used for system monitoring may also be used to shape teaching and learning in classrooms. In turn, classroom-based assessments may provide valuable data for decision makers at school and…

Current educational policies require the participation of students with disabilities in state assessments. Their participation has raised a number of issues, among them the need for accommodations. In this article we consider the role that assistive technology (AT) can play to alleviate current accommodations demands, and highlight research and…

An analysis by the Media program staff members of the Human Rights Commission of San Francisco of the circumstances under which group intelligence testing has been ended in the San Francisco Unified School District as of March 1973, and of related issues concerning educational diagnosis. (JM)

Purpose of mini-series is to present current conceptualizations of the structure of intelligence, new research on human cognitive abilities and their interpretations, and pertinent, practical considerations regarding the use of intelligence tests in schools. Discusses educational-policy issues as well as diagnostic and treatment-utility issues.…

An investigation was made of standard, nonexperimentally administered Head Start programs in the Philadelphia School District. Findings replicate and extend past findings that Head Start children more often avoided serious school problems than did control children. Head Start children were less frequently retained as they moved through the…

The fundamental principles underlying the "No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001" focus on high standards of learning and instruction with the goal of increasing academic achievement--reading and math in particular--within all identified subgroups in the K-12 population. One of these subgroups is the growing population of English…