Assessing National Achievement Levels in Education

Vincent Greaney, Thomas Kellaghan

• Publisher: World Bank Publications
• Year: 2007
• eBook ISBN: 9780821372593
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Educational Policy

As knowledge increasingly replaces raw materials and labor as a key resource in economic development, the availability of human knowledge and skills is critical in determining a country's rate of economic development and its competitiveness in international markets. The growing use of national assessment capacity has enabled ministries of education across the world to describe national levels of learning achievement in key subject areas; compare achievement levels of key subgroups, such as boys and girls, ethnic groups, urban and rural students, and public and private school students; and provide evidence to support claims about standards of student achievement. Despite growth in assessment activity, the potential value of the data that assessments can provide remains underappreciated. The requisite skills to conduct assessments require development, and even countries that carry out national assessments or participate in international ones may not yet be able to fully exploit the information yielded. 'Assessing National Achievement Levels in Education' describes the purposes and features of national assessments, as well as issues in designing, implementing, analyzing, and reporting. It also describes major international, regional, and national assessments in a range of countries. This book will be of interest to national, regional, and state governments; research institutions; and universities.

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• ABBREVIATIONS
• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
• 3. WHY CARRY OUT A NATIONAL ASSESSMENT?
• 4. DECISIONS IN A NATIONAL ASSESSMENT
• 5. ISSUES IN THE DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION, ANALYSIS, REPORTING, AND USE OF A NATIONAL ASSESSMENT
• 6. INTERNATIONAL ASSESSMENTS OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
• 7. CONCLUSION
• APPENDIX A. COUNTRY CASE STUDIES
• APPENDIX B. INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
• APPENDIX C. REGIONAL STUDIES
• REFERENCES
• INDEX
• Box 2.1 Ethiopia: National Assessment Objectives
• Box 2.2 Examples of Questions Addressed by Vietnam’s National Assessment
• Box 2.3 Main Elements of a National Assessment
• Box 4.1 Proposed NSC Membership in Sierra Leone
• Box 4.2 Examples of Multiple-Choice Items
• Box 4.3 Examples of Open-Ended Items
• Box 6.1 South Africa’s Experience with International Assessments
• Figure 3.1 The Achievement Gap in the United States for Nine-Year-Old Students: NAEP Reading Assessment, 1971-99
• Figure 3.2 Percentages of Fourth Grade Students at or above “Proficient” in Reading, NAEP 1992-2003
• Figure 4.1 Mean Percentage Correct Scores for Students’ Mathematics Performance, by Content Area, Lesotho
• Figure A.9.1 Grade 6 Literacy Test Score Distribution in Uganda
• Figure B.3.1 Sample of PISA Mathematics Items
• Figure B.3.2 PISA Mean Reading Literacy Scores and Reading Subscale Scores
• Figure B.3.3 Student Proficiency Levels in PISA Mathematics
• Figure B.3.4 Percentage of Students at Each Proficiency Level on PISA Mathematics Scale
• Figure B.3.5 Percentage of Students at Each Proficiency Level on PISA Reading Scale
• Figure C.1.1 Percentage of Grade 6 Students Reaching Proficiency Levels in SACMEQ Reading, 1995-98
• Figure C.1.2 Changes in Literacy Scores between SACMEQ I and SACMEQ II
• Figure C.2.1 Percentage of Grade 5 Pupils with Low Achievement, PASEC, 1996-2001
• Figure C.3.1 Socioeconomic Gradients for 11 Latin American Countries, LLECE
• Table 2.1 Differences between National Assessments and Public Examinations
• Table 4.1 Options for Implementing a National Assessment
• Table 4.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Census-Based Assessment to Hold Schools Accountable
• Table 4.3 PIRLS Reading Comprehension Processes
• Table 4.4 Percentage Achieving Goal or Mastery Level by Grade, Connecticut, 2006
• Table 4.5 Bodies with Primary Responsibility for Decisions in a National Assessment
• Table 6.1 Comparison of TIMSS and PISA
• Table 6.2 Percentage of Students Reaching TIMSS International Benchmarks in Mathematics, Grade 8: High- and Low-Scoring Countries
• Table A.2.1 Percentages and Standard Errors of Pupils at Different Skill Levels in Reading
• Table A.2.2 Relationship between Selected Teacher Variables and Mathematics Achievement
• Table A.5.1 Background Data and Source in Sri Lankan National Assessment
• Table A.5.2 Percentage of Students Achieving Mastery in the First Language, by Province
• Table A.7.1 Index for Merit Awards for Schools in Chile, 1998–99
• Table A.9.1 Percentages of Uganda Grade 3 Pupils Rated Profcient in English Literacy, 2005
• Table B.1.1 Target Percentages of the TIMSS 2007 Mathematics Tests Devoted to Content and Cognitive Domains, Fourth and Eighth Grades
• Table B.1.2 TIMSS Distribution of Mathematics Achievement, Grade 8
• Table B.2.1 Percentages of Students Reaching PIRLS Benchmarks in Reading Achievement, Grade 4
• Table C.3.1 Percentage of Students Who Reached Each Performance Level in Language, by Type of School and Location, LLECE 1997
• Table C.3.2 Percentage of Students Who Reached Each Performance Level in Mathematics, by Type of School and Location, LLECE 1997