Educational Policy Evaluation through International Comparative Assessments PDF Download

Author: Rolf Strietholt
Publisher: Waxmann Verlag
ISBN: 3830980914
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
One of the most salient findings from the field of education is that there are huge national differences in student achievement as shown in international comparative studies like PISA and TIMSS. The shockingly large gap between the highest performing countries (mostly in East Asia) and many European countries corresponds to a difference in attainment of two years of schooling. Although this finding has been replicated in several studies, the reasons for and consequences of such differences are currently not well understood. This book is a collection of essays and studies by leading experts in international comparative education who demonstrate how international comparative assessments can be used to evaluate educational policies. The volume is organized into two parts that address, first, theoretical foundations and methodological developments in the field of international assessments, and, second, innovative substantive studies that utilize international data for policy evaluation studies. The intention of this book is to revisit the idea of 'using the world as an educational laboratory', both to inform policy and to facilitate theory development.

Author: Jay Moskowitz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134409192
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Comparing Learning Outcomes provides an insider's look at the policy and practical issues in conducting and using the information from international assessments of education and is a key resource for researchers and policymakers in education. This book covers a variety of important topics related to international comparative assessment including: * History of international assessment, the factors contributing to its growth and the impacts of such growth * What it means to assess different domains * How information form international assessments has been used by policy makers in different countries * Technical considerations in analysing and using assessment data. Reflecting the increasing involvement of policy makers in the field of international education assessment Comparing Learning Outcomes brings together the collaborative research of professionals in 11 countries working on a project for the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), gathering cross-national, comparative information on education for use for governments.

Author: Trude Nilsen
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030881784
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 1518

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Book Description
This handbook is the first of its kind to provide a general and comprehensive overview of virtually every aspect of International Large Scale Assessment (ILSA). It includes historical, economic, and policy perspectives, theoretical foundations, methodology, and reviews of findings from analyses of ILSA data. After decades, during which ILSAs have generated knowledge within central areas of education research and gained increased and substantial impact on educational policy, practice and research, such a broad overview for a wide-ranging audience is much needed. With contributions from authors and editors from all continents, this handbook appeals to an international audience and keeps a neutral perspective, not favoring one ILSA over another. The handbook is suitable to be read by politicians, researchers and stakeholders who are seeking an overview of ILSAs, their history and development, and both potential benefits and limitations with regard to policy implications. The reviews of findings from studies analyzing ILSA data will be of interest to stakeholders, teachers, researchers, and policymakers. Considering that the reviews extend to all fields pertaining to educational research, the book will be valuable to all researchers interested in education. Students may use the book to learn about ILSAs in the context of policy, theoretical underpinnings, or research. Moreover, the methodology section is written in a manner that is understandable and accessible for students, stakeholders, or researchers not familiar with these data. This methodology part, however, is also a valuable resource for researchers who are familiar with ILSA data, as it provides overviews of the design and sampling procedures of several ILSAs, and includes advice on methods of analysis.Even the owners of the ILSAs may find the book valuable, as it contains overviews and insights into a number of ILSAs, provides information how the data is used by the research community, and includes recommendations for future instruments.

Author: William C. Smith
Publisher: Symposium Books Ltd
ISBN: 187392772X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
The past thirty years have seen a rapid expansion of testing, exposing students worldwide to tests that are now, more than ever, standardized and linked to high-stakes outcomes. The use of testing as a policy tool has been legitimized within international educational development to measure education quality in the vast majority of countries worldwide. The embedded nature and normative power of high-stakes standardized testing across national contexts can be understood as a global testing culture. The global testing culture permeates all aspects of education, from financing, to parental involvement, to teacher and student beliefs and practices. The reinforcing nature of the global testing culture leads to an environment where testing becomes synonymous with accountability, which becomes synonymous with education quality. Underlying the global testing culture is a set of values identified from the increasing literature on world culture. These include: education as a human right, academic intelligence, faith in science, decentralization, and neoliberalism. Each of these values highlights different aspects of the dialogue in support of high-stakes standardized testing. The wide approval of these values and their ability to legitimate various aspects of high-stakes testing reinforces the taken-for-granted notion that such tests are effective and appropriate education practices. However, a large body of literature emphasizes the negative unintended consequences – teaching to the test, reshaping the testing pool, the inequitable distribution of school resources and teachers’ attention, and reconstructing the role of the student, teacher, and parent – commonly found when standardized, census-based tests are combined with high-stakes outcomes for educators or students. This book problematizes this culture by providing critical perspectives that challenge the assumptions of the culture and describe how the culture manifests in national contexts. The volume makes it clear that testing, per se, is not the problem. Instead it is how tests are administered, used or misused, and linked to accountability that provide the global testing culture with its powerful ability to shape schools and society and lead to its unintended, undesirable consequences.

Author: Matthias von Davier
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400746296
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
This volume offers contributions by thought leaders from a variety of disciplines and different perspectives, which are brought together in a final chapter. The contributions give insight in the role of large-scale international assessments as change agents. As national leaders recognize the growing importance of human capital and how it is distributed, policymakers, economists and decision makers in education have become increasingly interested in results from comparative international surveys. These assessments offer important information on the development of cognitive skills and the consequences of differences in the distribution of these skills. Researchers use the data to assess the role of human capital in predicting outcomes and to identify factors that may contribute to the development of more human capital. An invaluable resource for researchers in international comparative education, policy studies, economics, civics education, educational technology, and policy makers.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309088550
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
Since 1988, the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education (BICSE) at the (U.S.) National Research Council of the National Academies has engaged in activities designed to increase the rigor and sophistication of international comparative studies in education by encouraging synergies between large and smaller scale international comparative education research, to identify gaps in the existing research base, and to assist in communicating results to policy makers and the public. Under the current grant (1998-2002), funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, BICSE has sponsored public events and commissioned papers on the effects of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the power of video technology in international education research, international perspectives on teacher quality, and advances in the methodology of cross-national surveys of education achievement. This report responds to a request from the board's sponsors under the current grant to produce a report that builds on its previous work.

Author: Guorui Fan
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 981138343X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
This open access handbook brings together the latest research from a wide range of internationally influential scholars to analyze educational policy research from international, historical and interdisciplinary perspectives. By effectively breaking through the boundaries between countries and disciplines, it presents new theories, techniques and methods for contemporary education policy, and illustrates the educational policies and educational reform practices that various countries have introduced to meet the challenges of continuous change. This volume focuses on policies and changes in schools and classrooms. The studies on school changes present the differences in the policies and challenges of K-12 schools and universities in different countries and regions, and in connection with the contradictions and conflicts between tradition and modernization, as well as the changing roles of various stakeholders, especially that of teachers. In terms of curriculum and instruction, many countries have undertaken experiments and introduced changes based on two major themes: “what to teach” and “how to teach”. International education assessments represented by PISA not only promote the improvement and extensive application of educational assessment and testing techniques, but have also had far-reaching impacts on education policies and education reforms in many countries. Focusing on the changes in educational policies at the micro level, this volume comprehensively reveals the complex interactions between school organizations, teachers, curricula, teaching and learning, evaluation and other elements within the education system, as well as the latest related reforms worldwide.

Author: Gavin T. L. Brown
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317608186
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 586

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Book Description
The Handbook of Human and Social Conditions in Assessment is the first book to explore assessment issues and opportunities occurring due to the real world of human, cultural, historical, and societal influences upon assessment practices, policies, and statistical modeling. With chapters written by experts in the field, this book engages with numerous forms of assessment: from classroom-level formative assessment practices to national accountability and international comparative testing practices all of which are significantly influenced by social and cultural conditions. A unique and timely contribution to the field of Educational Psychology, the Handbook of Human and Social Conditions in Assessment is written for researchers, educators, and policy makers interested in how social and human complexity affect assessment at all levels of learning. Organized into four sections, this volume examines assessment in relation to teachers, students, classroom conditions, and cultural factors. Each section is comprised of a series of chapters, followed by a discussant chapter that synthesizes key ideas and offers directions for future research. Taken together, the chapters in this volume demonstrate that teachers, test creators, and policy makers must account for the human and social conditions that shape assessment if they are to implement successful assessment practices which accomplish their intended outcomes.

Author: Larry E. Suter
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1526484617
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 936

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Book Description
Educational practices have rapidly changed in the last few decades, especially in how exchanges of information and learning are delivered and processed. Yet, while the field of international comparative studies has grown, there has not been an extensive study on the relationship between educational practices, students, and how practitioners are prepared and trained. This handbook explores international educational practices and behaviours through new research and a review of existing research, with chapters spread across six parts: Part I: Introduction to Research Practices in Comparative Studies of Education Part II: Research Methods Part III: Policy Transfer Research through International Comparisons Part IV: Use of Student time in Formal and Informal Settings Part V: School Practices from Early Childhood through Secondary School Part VI: Conclusion - Lessons from Large Scale Studies

Author: Rita Berry
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400707290
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
This book discusses the recent assessment movements in the eastern and western worlds with particular focuses on the policies, implementation, and impacts of assessment reform on education. A new perspective of assessment sees assessment as a means to enhance learning. This book examines the tensions, challenges and outcomes (intended and unintended) of assessment reform arising at the interface of policy and implementation, and implementation and student learning. The book reviews the experiences insights gained from research, and identifies the facilitators and hindrances to effective change. It reflects current thinking of assessment and provides the readers with ample background information of assessment development in many countries including USA, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.