This article describes standardised testing in Denmark and the protections guaranteed to avoid "high stakes". It explains the use of computer-based "adaptive tests" which adjust to an appropriate level for each student. It is an abbreviated version of an article from 2011 in the "Journal for Applied Testing…

The global COVID-19 pandemic is testing the responsiveness of school systems. Extensive discourse about disruptions to the standardized examinations students take in their final year of secondary school is symbolic of their high-stakes status worldwide. The interruptions provide an opportune moment to question the efficacy of exams as a…

This paper focuses on the perspectives of minority/racialized students in urban high schools. It is based on findings of interviews with 85 students in six secondary schools in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, and in Melbourne, Australia, during 2016-2019. While there has been increasing attention to closing the racial achievement gap and some…

Background: There are concerns that school track recommendations that are mostly based on teachers' judgements of students' performance ('judgement-based recommendations') are more biased by students' SES than school track recommendations that are mostly based on standardized test results ('test-based recommendations'). A recent policy reform of…

Background/Context: Recent movements to "opt out" of state assessments have brought together a broad and diverse group of activists. While many activists foreground concerns of equity and justice, opting out has been concentrated in affluent suburban communities (Pizmony-Levy & Green Saraisky, 2016). These differences highlight…

In 2015 an urban school district reported that 84.6% of third graders did not demonstrate proficiency on the Math Standardized Test, which challenges students to solve problems and justify solutions. Since 2006 there has been a negative trend of proficiency levels on the New York State (NYS) Math Exam in third grade. I propose that students may be…

The complexities of adapting traditional educational courses to a virtual setting highlighted numerous inequalities within the current United States' K12 school system. Students in low socioeconomic communities have suffered a more significant academic slide in core competencies due to poor lesson integration, online learning fatigue, poor…

The Major Field Test in Business (MFTB) is a nationally administered student evaluation that measures the accumulated knowledge of undergraduates enrolled in a four-year degree program. Research to date has focused primarily on understanding how different variables correlate with performance on this standardized test -- such as student grades,…

Test-optional and test-blind admissions policies accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic would appear to imperil College Board's SAT college-entrance exam, the rival ACT, and their respective parent organizations. This state of affairs follows years of complaints that the exams favor the affluent. And, in fact, both of the notoriously secretive…

This paper drills deeper into the documented effects of the Cognitive Tutor Algebra I and ASSISTments intelligent tutoring systems by estimating their effects on specific problems. We start by describing a multilevel Rasch-type model that facilitates testing for differences in the effects between problems and precise problem-specific effect…

This series of rapid briefs is being developed by the Wisconsin-Minnesota Comprehensive Center - Region 10 (WMCC10). The purpose of these briefs is to provide succinct and timely guidance on best practices for schools and school-based early learning programs regarding the assessment of student learning, with the goal of informing instructional…

It has been argued in the literature on (language) testing that any act of testing/assessment can impact: (1) educators' curriculum design; (2) teachers' teaching practices; and (3) students' learning behaviors. This quality of any given testing situation or act of assessment has been called washback, or backwash if you will. Washback falls into…

A decline in the completion rates of a radiography program not attributed to students' life events indicated the need to examine the program admission process. The use of standardized test scores in conjunction with other program admission requirements has not resulted in 100% program completion. The radiography program's leaders, sponsored by…

Standardized tests have been applied as student knowledge assessment in many countries, including Azerbaijan. However, studies have shown that standardized tests are not an effective way of measuring students' knowledge because they limit students' creativity and prevent instructors from applying individual teaching methods due to the pressure of…

Statement of Purpose and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to examine the possible relationships between co-curricular scheduling models, student choice of co-curricular courses, and scores on the English Language Arts and mathematics Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) scale for students in sixth, seventh, and eighth…