Changing Educational Assessment: International Perspectives and Trends

It is difficult to remember that educational assessment used to be largely confined to the technical domain of psychometrics. In recent years, and particularly since the plans for the delivery of the National Curriculum have been established, it has become the key area of interest and debate in education and is making an impact on all areas, from teaching skills to policy-making. This book focuses on the comparative perspective to spotlight the common basis of many of the current issues, including the development of a market economy in provision, minimum competency testing for teachers (as in the USA), institutional quality, assessment information, measurement-driven instruction (MDI), accreditation of absolute rather than relative competencies and issues of equity of opportunity and national development. It is broadly divided into three sections on the general role of assessment and public examinations, alternative approaches to certification and new policy techniques.