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Articles on School assessment

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Large-scale literacy testing has not kept pace with how literacy is practiced in classooms, assessed by teachers and mandated by curriculum. tim gouw/unsplash

Testing literacy today requires more than a pencil and paper

Are current forms of standardized literacy tests really measuring children’s capacity to read and interact with our rapidly-changing world?
The biggest problem with supplementary examinations is the punitive nature of the assessment. Shutterstock

Why we need to rethink supplementary examinations

In Australian schools, assessment drives learning, but there are better models to consider than the current system of supplementary examinations.
Standardised assessments can inform what teachers teach, based on evidence of student learning. Shutterstock

Evidence-based education needs standardised assessment

Standardised tests are a powerful tool for building an evidence base of what works to guide education policy.
Results from the 2017 NAPLAN results showed very little improvement since the test was introduced 10 years ago. Richard Wainwright/AAP

NAPLAN has done little to improve student outcomes

NAPLAN is good at measuring some aspects of education, including knowledge difference between demographics, but has not produced a positive effect on student learning outcomes.
To make sure we get the most out of education, we may need to both broaden our narrative about standardised testing and try to minimise its negative influences. Shutterstock

Support for standardised tests boils down to beliefs about who benefits from it

The use of standardised testing is a divisive topic, and most of the disagreement comes down to beliefs about whether using it to control education is a good or bad thing.
Students don’t always know if they are making any progress in their learning. from www.shutterstock.com

Rethinking how we assess learning in schools

Our current way of assessing students doesn’t let them see the progress they are making over extended periods of time.
Children need to learn how to sound out words they haven’t seen before. from www.shutterstock.com

Why do we need a phonics test for six-year-olds?

Many young children can give the false impression that they are learning to read, when in fact they are mostly guessing words from pictures or context. This test will help to identify these students.
There are big problems in South Africa’s school systems. These aren’t often discussed when matric results are released. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Why caution is called for when analysing South Africa’s matric results

South Africa’s annual matric pass rate obscures important differences in provincial achievements, the rural and urban divide and the unequal outcomes for learners in poorer schools.
How can we use data from international tests to improve student learning? from www.shutterstock.com

NAPLAN results: moving beyond our obsession with numbers

Various forms of testing that reduce students’ knowledge, capacities and skills to a single number cannot of themselves help inform improvement.

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