Assessment policies, frameworks and methods
1. Do we have a national strategy / policy / position paper on educational assessment? If yes, how recent is this? Which educational levels (both in terms of ISCED and in terms of location (local – regional – national) and subjects are covered by this? Has it been evaluated?
2. To what extent is the choice of purposes, targets and subject matters for assessment, for example in national assessments, related directly to what the country thinks of as important in terms of learning outcomes for its learners and not only in terms of what is easy to assess? (See: Articles on Assessment)
3. What have been the criteria used to determine the coverage of the assessment and the level at which national assessments are conducted? Are these criteria linked to clear objectives and goals of the assessment? Is there evidence that the coverage and the levels at which the assessments are made contributed to improvement of education system quality?
4. In general, to what extent is assessment in this country effective? To what ends? Is it inclusive? In what way? What evidence do we have for this? Do we know where the system stands in terms of achievement outcomes at every level?
Implementation of assessment
1. If there is an educational assessment policy has it been implemented/enacted? How do we know? At what levels is assessment implemented? What are the objectives of this?
2. Is there evidence that the implementation of the assessments is according to rules of good practice, incl. inclusiveness? What is this based on? [Analytical Tool on Equity and Inclusion]
3. Who implements assessments? How does this vary by types of assessment?
4. How are tests conceptualised (i.e. how are test items developed) and what is the conceptual basis for this (for example, a curriculum/syllabus analysis or rather an orientation of ‘life skills’)? What psychometric methods and techniques are used to classify items, and to what extent are these item characteristics taken into account in the development of achievement tests? Are open and closed items used? In terms of test conceptualisation, is there a good mix of standardised and non-standardised testing available?
5. Are assessments also measuring ‘associated factors’ that facilitate analysis (e.g. looking at age, gender, socioeconomic status and other background information)? 6. If applicable, how are data processed and fed into a centralised information system? 7. What is the evidence that participation in international quality assessment (LLECE, PISA, SACMEQ and others) help us to bench mark the quality of our education system? What has been our and others experience of international assessments? If we have not participated, was it a deliberate decision and, if so, why?
Utilisation of assessment results
1. What mechanisms do we have for making the evaluation of the assessment results inform education policy and practice (at classroom, school, regional and national level)? How often do we use these mechanisms? What is the evidence that we do such evaluation in a purposeful and systematic way?
2. How do we interpret the findings from evaluations of assessment results findings, and how do we make sure that educational assessments have the intended impact of improving the education system quality and learning effectiveness? How do we communicate our evaluation so as to focus on how we can do better? How are outcomes data linked to other variables, such as finance data, which permits rigorous analyses?
3. Are assessment results made public, and to whom (for example, individual student results to parents / carers; school rankings to the general public, etc.)?
