This book focuses on central issues that are key components of successful planning, development and implementation of LSAs. The book's main distinction is its focus on practice- based, cutting-edge research. This is achieved by having chapters co-authored by world-class researchers in collaboration with measurement practitioners.

This open access book describes and reviews the development of the quality control mechanisms and methodologies associated with IEA’s extensive program of educational research. A group of renowned international researchers, directly involved in the design and execution of IEA’s international large-scale assessments (ILSAs), describe the operational and quality control procedures that are employed to address the challenges associated with providing high-quality, comparable data. Throughout the now considerable history of IEA’s international large-scale assessments, establishing the quality of the data has been paramount. Research in the complex multinational context in which IEA studies operate imposes significant burdens and challenges in terms of the methodologies and technologies that have been developed to achieve the stated study goals. The demands of the twin imperatives of validity and reliability must be satisfied in the context of multiple and diverse cultures, languages, orthographies, educational structures, educational histories, and traditions. Readers will learn about IEA’s approach to such challenges, and the methods used to ensure that the quality of the data provided to policymakers and researchers can be trusted. An often neglected area of investigation, namely the consequential validity of ILSAs, is also explored, examining issues related to reporting, dissemination, and impact, including discussion of the limits of interpretation. The final chapters address the question of the influence of ILSAs on policy and reform in education, including a case study from Singapore, a country known for its outstanding levels of achievement, but which nevertheless seeks the means of continual improvement, illustrating best practice use of ILSA data.

Winner of the 2017 AERA Division D Significant Contribution to Educational Measurement and Research Methodology Award! Technological and statistical advances, along with a strong interest in gathering more information about the state of our educational systems, have made it possible to assess more students, in more countries, more often, and in more subject domains. The Handbook of International Large-Scale Assessment: Background, Technical Issues, and Methods of Data Analysis brings together recognized scholars in the field of ILSA, behavioral statistics, and policy to develop a detailed guide that goes beyond database user manuals. After highlighting the importance of ILSA data to policy and research, the book reviews methodological aspects and features of the studies based on operational considerations, analytics, and reporting. The book then describes methods of interest to advanced graduate students, researchers, and policy analysts who have a good grounding in quantitative methods, but who are not necessarily quantitative methodologists. In addition, it provides a detailed exposition of the technical details behind these assessments, including the test design, the sampling framework, and estimation methods, with a focus on how these issues impact analysis choices.

To improve their education systems, countries around the world have increasingly initiated national largescale assessment programs or participated in international or regional large-scale assessment studies for the first time. Well-constructed large-scale assessments can provide credible information on student achievement levels, which, in turn, can promote better resource allocation to schools, stronger education service delivery, and improved learning outcomes. The World Bank developed this Primer on Large-Scale Assessments of Educational Achievement as a firststop resource for those wanting to understand how to design, administer, analyze, and use the results from these assessments of student achievement. The book addresses frequently asked questions from people working on large-scale assessment projects and those interested in making informed decisions about them. Each chapter introduces a stage in the assessment process and offers advice, guidelines, and country examples. This book also reports on emerging trends in large-scale assessment and provides updated information on regional and international large-scale assessment programs. DIRK HASTEDT, Executive Director of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) “A special feature of the publication is that it not only gives an overview of technical specifications, but also includes examples from around the world on how countries are conducting large-scale assessments, what they found, and how the results were used. With this perspective, the Primer on Large-Scale Assessments of Educational Achievement is an excellent and easy-to-read publication to get a comprehensive overview of large-scale assessments and how and why they are conducted.†? SILVIA MONTOYA, Director of UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UNESCO UIS) “If you are responsible for learning assessment in a country and are searching for a comprehensive, yet readable, guide on large-scale assessment, this is your book. Extremely well structured and written, this primer is easy to follow, and makes points clearly and concisely. It is an excellent resource that explores the steps for a good large-scale assessment with examples from all international large-scale assessment programs.†? ANDREAS SCHLEICHER, Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Secretary- General “Many countries have joined international educational assessments to benchmark quality, equity, and efficiency in their education systems. But what does it take to design and implement those efforts well and to draw value from this to help students learn better, teachers teach better, and schools to work more effectively? This Primer on Large-Scale Assessments of Educational Achievement helps policy makers and their technical teams to find answers to these questions.†? ANDREI VOLKOV, Director of the Institute for Public Strategy, Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO “In 2008, when the Russia Education Aid for Development (READ) Program was launched, we determined its main goal as the improvement of the quality of basic education. Today, the READ Program keeps setting trends as the largest Russian initiative promoting educational assessment. Approaches developed within the READ Program, from building institutional and expert capacity to influencing educational reforms, have proven their efficacy in many countries. The Primer on Large-Scale Assessments of Educational Achievement brings together in a practical format the best experience and case studies in conducting assessments under the READ Program. An especially important feature of the book is an integrated capacity building component, which makes it a practical tutorial ready for use in different cultural contexts. Through this book, we hope that our collective experience gathered during READ will be widely shared, bringing us closer to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal on education.†? evelopment Goal on Education.†?

This book provides an overview of current research on a variety of topics related to both large-scale and classroom assessment. First, the purposes, traditions and principles of assessment are considered, with particular attention to those common to all levels of assessment and those more connected with either classroom or large-scale assessment. Assessment design based on sound assessment principles is discussed, differentiating between large-scale and classroom assessment, but also examining how the design principles overlap. The focus then shifts to classroom assessment and provides specific examples of assessment strategies, before examining the impact of large-scale assessment on curriculum, policy, instruction, and classroom assessment. The book concludes by discussing the challenges that teachers currently face, as well as ways to support them. The book offers a common language for researchers in assessment, as well as a primer for those interested in understanding current work in the area of assessment. In summary, it provides the opportunity to discuss large-scale and classroom assessment by addressing the following main themes: ·Purposes, Traditions and Principles of Assessment ·Design of Assessment Tasks ·Classroom Assessment in Action ·Interactions of Large-Scale and Classroom Assessment ·Enhancing Sound Assessment Knowledge and Practices It also suggests areas for future research in assessment in mathematics education.

This report addresses the more contentious aspects of large-scale learning assessments (LSLAs). Drawing on UNESCO's extensive experience in the area from involvement in the direct implementation of assessments and as a knowledge broker and convener of networks this publication presents the Organization's critical take on such initiatives. It aims to balance the debate on LSLAs by reviewing their benefits while raising awareness on their potential risks and pitfalls. The focus of discussions in this publication is on LSLAs conducted in formal and school-based education. It includes an Annex outlining key international studies. [Executive summary, ed]

This open access methodological book summarises existing analysing techniques using data from PIAAC, a study initiated by the OECD that assesses key cognitive and occupational skills of the adult population in more than 40 countries. The approximately 65 PIAAC datasets that has been published worldwide to date has been widely received and used by an interdisciplinary research community. Due to the complex structure of the data, analyses with PIAAC datasets are very challenging. To ensure the quality and significance of these data analyses, it is necessary to instruct users in the correct handling of the data. This methodological book provides a standardised approach to successfully implementing these data analyses. It contains examples of and tools for the analysis of the PIAAC data using different statistical approaches and software, and it offers perspectives from various disciplines. The contributing authors have hands-on experience of using PIAAC data, and/or they have conducted data analysis workshops with these data.