Abstract
Politicians and other stakeholders in education have increasingly used large-scale assessments to promote better educational outcomes. We document a number of cases, such as the Dutch experiences with the publication of results by school and the release of Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. Several different mechanisms for systemic effects of large-scale assessment results can be distinguished, such as regulation or financial consequences (the United States and its No Child Left Behind law), competition (the Netherlands), or an appeal to ambition (as was presumably the case for Poland with PISA). Parameters in conducting large-scale assessments—such as the relevancy of the assessments in terms of the relevance to the pupil for his or her education career—are considered as far as their impact on promoting better education outcomes.
The following is an adaptation of the keynote address for the International Large-Scale Assessment Conference at Educational Testing Service in Princeton, NJ, on March 16–18, 2011.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
While planning and preparation for this endeavor started in 1994, it took until 2000 for the first PISA assessment to be administered in OECD countries.
References
Lang, Kevin. 2010. Measurement Matters. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(3, Summer):167–182.
OECD. 2006. Assessing scientific, reading and mathematical literacy: A framework for PISA 2006. Paris: OECD.
OECD. 2008. External evaluation of policy impact of PISA. Paris: OECD.
OECD. 2010. PISA 2009 results. Paris: OECD.
Ritzen, Jo. 2010. A Chance for European Universities. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ritzen, J. (2013). International Large-Scale Assessments as Change Agents. In: von Davier, M., Gonzalez, E., Kirsch, I., Yamamoto, K. (eds) The Role of International Large-Scale Assessments: Perspectives from Technology, Economy, and Educational Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4629-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4629-9_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4628-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4629-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)