Assessment and evaluation are crucial aspects of any educational system and rarely can they have been so central to educational policy-making and the reform of schooling as at the present time. (The introduction of the National Curriculum and Testing system in the UK and the test-based ‘No Child Left Behind’ legislation in the USA are but two high-profile examples.) Assessment processes interact with curriculum and teaching methods to frame the student experience of education, and the outcomes of assessment are crucially important in determining individual educational progression and socio-economic futures. Equally, assessment is used by policy-makers to focus instruction on core elements of educational provision, and the aggregate outcomes of assessment are employed to measure the quality and effectiveness of an educational system. Good quality assessment is vital to individual student life-chances and to issues of parental choice, school reputation, government policy evaluation, and long-term economic development. Poor quality assessment can disrupt all of these elements of an effective school system by, for example, narrowing what is taught and learned to only the limited range of skills and abilities examined through paper-and-pencil tests.
As serious thinking about and around assessment and evaluation continues to flourish and develop, this new title in Routledge’s Major Themes in Education series meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of the subject’s vast literature and the continuing explosion in research output. Edited by Harry Torrance, a leading scholar in the field, this Routledge Major Work is a four-volume collection of foundational and cutting-edge contributions.
With comprehensive introductions to each volume, newly written by the editor, which place the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Educational Assessment and Evaluation is an essential work of reference. It is destined to be valued by specialists in assessment and evaluation and scholars working in related areas—as well as by educational policy-makers and professionals—as a vital one-stop research tool.
Volume I: Purposes, Functions, and Technical Issues
1. ‘Traditional and Modern Concepts of Validity’ (ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation, 1999).
2. ‘Reliability’ (ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation, 2001).
3. D. Frisbie, ‘Measurement 101: Some Fundamentals Revisited’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, Fall 2005, 21–8.
4. A. Ornstein, ‘Norm Referenced and Criterion Referenced Tests: An Overview’, NASSP Bulletin, October 1993, 28–39.
5. P. Newton, ‘Clarifying the Purposes of Educational Assessment’, Assessment in Education, 2007, 14, 2, 149–70.
6. A. Nitko, ‘Curriculum-Based Continuous Assessment: A Framework for Concepts, Procedures and Policy’, Assessment in Education, 1995, 2, 3, 321–37.
7. P. A. Moss, ‘Can There be Validity Without Reliability?’, Educational Researcher, 1994, 23, 5–12.
8. L. A. Shepard, ‘The Centrality of Test Use and Consequences for Test Validity’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 1997, 16, 2, 13–24.
9. T. Crooks, M. Kane, and A. Cohen, ‘Threats to the Valid Use of Assessments’, Assessment in Education, 1996, 3, 3, 265–78.
10. M. Kane, T. Crooks, and A. Cohen, ‘Validating Measures of Performance’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, Summer 1999, 5–17.
11. K. Ryan, ‘Assessment Validation in the Context of High-Stakes Assessment’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, Spring 2002, 7–15.
12. M. Kane, ‘Current Concerns in Validity Theory’, Journal of Educational Measurement, 2001, 38, 4, 319–42.
13. R. Brennan, ‘An Essay on the History and Future of Reliability from the Perspective of Replications’, Journal of Educational Measurement, 2001, 38, 4, 295–317.
14. J. Parkes, ‘Reliability as Argument’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 2007, 26, 4, 2–10.
15. J. Baird, J. Greatorex, and J. Bell, ‘What Makes Marking Reliable? Experiments with UK Examinations’, Assessment in Education, 2004, 11, 3, 331–48.
16. P. Black, C. Harrison, J. Hodgen, B. Marshall, and N. Serret, ‘Validity in Teachers’ Summative Assessments’, Assessment in Education, 2010, 17, 2, 215–32.
17. G. Cizek, ‘Reliability and Validity of Information about Student Achievement: Comparing Large-Scale and Classroom Testing Contexts’, Theory into Practice, 2009, 48, 1, 63–71.
18. C. Wyatt-Smith, V. Klenowski, and S. Gunn, ‘The Centrality of Teachers’ Judgement Practice in Assessment: A Study of Standards in Moderation’, Assessment in Education, 2010, 17, 1, 59–75.
19. T. Proitz, ‘Learning Outcomes: What are They? Who Defines Them? When and Where are they Defined?’, Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 2010, 22, 119–37.
20. L. Darling-Hammond, ‘Standards and Assessment: Where We Are and What We Need’, Teachers’ College Record, 16 February 2003.
21. E. Haertel, ‘Standard Setting as a Participatory Process: Implications for Validation of Standards-Based Accountability Programs’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, Spring 2002, 16–22.
22. C. Jewitt, ‘Re-thinking Assessment: Multimodality, Literacy and Computer-Mediated Learning’, Assessment in Education, 2003, 10, 1, 83–102.
23. W. Harlen and R. Deakin Crick, ‘Testing and Motivation for Learning’, Assessment in Education, 2003, 10, 2, 169–207.
24. Joint Committee on Testing Practices, ‘Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 2005, 24, 1, 23–6.
Volume II: The Social Construction of Assessment, Equity, and Globalization
25. P. Broadfoot, Education, Assessment and Society (Open University Press, 1996), pp. 3–39.
26. G. Delandshere, ‘Implicit Theories, Unexamined Assumptions and the Status Quo of Educational Assessment’, Assessment in Education, 2001, 8, 2, 113–33.
27. M. Foucault, Discipline and Punish (Allen Lane, 1977), pp. 170–92.
28. G. Sutherland, ‘Examinations and the Construction of Professional Identity: A Case Study of England 1800–1950’, Assessment in Education, 2001, 8, 1, 51–64.
29. H. Torrance, ‘The Origins and Development of Mental Testing in England and the United States’, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 1981, 2, 1, 45–59.
30. J. Pryor and H. Torrance, ‘Teacher-Pupil Interaction in Formative Assessment: Assessing the Work or Protecting the Child?’, The Curriculum Journal, 1996, 7, 205–26.
31. M. Raveaud, ‘Assessment in French and English Infant Schools: Assessing the Work, the Child or the Culture?’, Assessment in Education, 2004, 11, 2, 193–211.
32. H. Torrance and J. Pryor, ‘The Social Construction of Success and Failure in Classroom Assessment in England’, in H. Kruger et al. (eds.), Family, School, Youth Culture (Peter Lang, 2008), pp. 219–37.
33. D. Reay and D. Wiliam, ‘"I’ll Be a Nothing’: Structure, Agency and the Construction of Identity Through Assessment’, British Educational Research Journal, 1999, 25, 3, 343–54.
34. H. Torrance, ‘Postmodernism and Educational Assessment’, in A. Filer (ed.), Assessment: Social Practice and Social Product (Routledge, 2000), pp. 173–88.
35. P. Tunstall, ‘Assessment Discourse and Constructions of Social Reality in Infant Classrooms’, Journal of Education Policy, 2001, 16, 3, 215–31.
36. P. A. Moss, ‘The Role of Consequences in Validity Theory’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 1998, 17, 2, 6–12.
37. B. Cooper and M. Dunne, ‘Anyone for Tennis? Social Class Differences in Children’s Responses to National Curriculum Mathematics Testing’, The Sociological Review, 1998, 46, 1, 115–48.
38. I. Lamprianou and B. Boyle, ‘Accuracy of Measurement in the Context of Mathematics National Curriculum Tests in England for Ethnic Minority Pupils and Pupils Who Speak English as an Additional Language’, Journal of Educational Measurement, 2004, 41, 3, 239–59.
39. G. Solano-Flores and E. Trumbull, ‘Examining Language in Context: The Need for New Research and Practice Paradigms in the Testing of English-Language Learners’, Educational Researcher, 2003, 32, 2, 3–13.
40. J. Fox and L. Cheng, ‘Did We Take the Same Test? Differing Accounts of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test by First (L1) and Second (L2) Language Test Takers’, Assessment in Education, 2007, 14, 1, 9–26.
41. S. Fairbairn and J. Fox, ‘Inclusive Achievement Testing for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Test Takers: Essential Considerations for Test Developers and Decision Makers’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 2009, 28, 1, 10–24.
42. E. Baker and H. O’Neil, ‘Performance Assessment and Equity: A View from the USA’, Assessment in Education, 1994, 1, 1, 11–26.
43. C. Gipps, ‘What Do We Mean by Equity in Relation to Assessment?’, Assessment in Education, 1995, 2, 3, 271–81.
44. S. Heyneman, ‘Educational Qualifications: The Economic and Trade Issues’, Assessment in Education, 2000, 7, 3, 417–38.
45. J. Lowe, ‘International Examinations: The New Credentialism and Reproduction of Advantage in a Globalising World’, Assessment in Education, 2000, 7, 3, 363–77.
46. N. Cole and M. Zieky, ‘The New Faces of Fairness’, Journal of Educational Measurement, 2001, 38, 4, 369–82.
47. R. Hopson, ‘Reclaiming Knowledge from the Margins: Culturally Responsive Evaluation in the Current Evaluation Moment’, in K. Ryan and B. Cousins (eds.), The Sage International Handbook of Educational Evaluation (Sage, 2009), pp. 429–46.
Volume III: Large-scale assessment, accountability, and international comparisons of educational achievement
48. J. Scheerens and B. Creemers, ‘Conceptualising School Effectiveness’, International Journal of Educational Research, 1989, 13, 7, 691–706.
49. D. Nuttall, H. Goldstein, R. Prosser, and J. Rasbash, ‘Differential School Effectiveness’, International Journal of Educational Research, 1989, 13, 7, 769–76.
50. M. Yang, H. Goldstein, T. Rath, and N. Hill, ‘The Use of Assessment Data for School Improvement Purposes’, Oxford Review of Education, 1999, 25, 4, 469–83.
51. S. Thomas, W. Peng, and J. Gray, ‘Modelling Patterns of Improvement Over Time: Value Added Trends in English Secondary School Performance Across Ten Cohorts’, Oxford Review of Education, 2007, 33, 3, 261–95.
52. G. Leckie and H. Goldstein, ‘The Limits of Using School League Tables to Inform School Choice’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society A, 2009, 172, 835–51.
53. T. Kellaghan, ‘IEA Studies and Educational Policy’, Assessment in Education, 1996, 3, 2, 143–60.
54. T. Kellaghan and V. Greaney, ‘The Globalisation of Assessment in the 20th Century’, Assessment in Education, 2001, 8, 1, 87–102.
55. A. Blum, H. Goldstein, and F. Guerin-Pace, ‘International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS): An Analysis of International Comparisons of Adult Literacy’, Assessment in Education, 2001, 8, 2, 225–46.
56. H. Goldstein, ‘International Comparisons of Student Attainment: Some Issues Arising from the PISA Study’, Assessment in Education, 2004, 11, 3, 319–30.
57. M. Wu, ‘Measurement, Sampling and Equating Errors in Large-Scale Assessments’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 2010, 29, 4, 15–27.
58. H. Torrance, ‘Globalising Empiricism: What, if Anything, Can Be Learned from International Comparisons of Educational Achievement?’, in H. Lauder, P. Brown, J. Dillabough, and A. Halsey (eds.), Education, Globalisation and Social Change (Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 824–34.
59. W. Popham, ‘Where Large Scale Testing is Heading and Why it Shouldn’t’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 1999, 16, 3, 13–17.
60. S. Lane, ‘Validity of High Stakes Assessments: Are Students Engaged in Complex Thinking?’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, Fall 2004, 6–14.
61. P. Broadfoot, ‘Records of Achievement and the Learning Society: A Tale of Two Discourses’, Assessment in Education, 1998, 5, 3, 447–77.
63. D. Koretz, ‘Large-Scale Portfolio Assessments in the US: Evidence Pertaining to the Quality of Measurement’, Assessment in Education, 1998, 5, 3, 309–34.
64. B. Stecher, ‘The Local Benefits and Burdens of Large-Scale Portfolio Assessment’, Assessment in Education, 1998, 5, 3, 335–51.
65. R. Linn, ‘Assessments and Accountability’, Educational Researcher, 2000, 29, 2, 4–16.
66. R. Shavelson, P. Black, D. Wiliam, and J. Coffey, ‘On Linking Formative and Summative Functions in the Design of Large-Scale Assessment Systems’ (Stanford University, 2005).
67. A. Gilmore, ‘Large-Scale Assessment and Teachers’ Assessment Capacity: Learning Opportunities for Teachers in the National Education Monitoring Project in New Zealand’, Assessment in Education, 2002, 9, 3, 343–61.
68. H. Torrance, ‘Using Assessment to Drive the Reform of Schooling: Time to Stop Pursuing the Chimera’, British Journal of Educational Studies, 2011, 59, 4, 459–85.
Volume IV: Current issues in formative assessment, teaching, and learning
69. C. Gipps, ‘Assessment Paradigms’, Beyond Testing (Routledge, 1994), pp. 1–17.
70. L. A. Shepard, ‘The Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture’, Educational Researcher, 2000, 29, 7, 4–14.
71. D. Boud, ‘Sustainable Assessment: Rethinking Assessment for the Learning Society’, Studies in Continuing Education, 2000, 22, 2, 151–67.
72. D. R. Sadler, ‘Formative Assessment and the Design of Instructional Systems’, Instructional Science, 1989, 18, 119–44.
73. P. Black and D. Wiliam, ‘Assessment and Classroom Learning’, Assessment in Education, 1998, 5, 1, 7–73.
74. J. Hattie and H. Timperley, ‘The Power of Feedback’, Review of Educational Research, 2007, 77, 81–112.
75. P. Perrenoud, ‘From Formative Evaluation to a Controlled Regulation of Learning Processes: Towards a Wider Conceptual Field’, Assessment in Education, 1998, 5, 1, 85–122.
76. D. Carless, ‘Conceptualizing Pre-Emptive Formative Assessment’, Assessment in Education, 2007, 14, 2, 171–84.
77. H. Torrance and J. Pryor, ‘Developing Formative Assessment in the Classroom: Using Action Research to Explore and Modify Theory’, British Educational Research Journal, 2001, 27, 5, 615–31.
78. J. Pellegrino, G. Baxter, and R. Glaser, ‘Addressing the "Two Disciplines" Problem: Linking Theories of Cognition and Learning with Assessment and Instructional Practice’, Review of Research in Education, 1999, 24, 307–53.
79. J. Pryor and B. Crossouard, ‘A Socio-Cultural Theorisation of Formative Assessment’, Oxford Review of Education, 2008, 34, 1, 1–20.
80. P. Black and D. Wiliam, ‘Developing the Theory of Formative Assessment’, Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 2009, 21, 5–31.
81. R. Bennett, ‘Formative Assessment: A Critical Review’, Assessment in Education, 2011, 18, 1, 5–25.
82. S. Brookhart, ‘Developing Measurement Theory for Classroom Assessment Purposes and Uses’, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 2003, 22, 4, 5–12.
83. B. Marshall and M. Drummond, ‘How Teachers Engage with Assessment for Learning: Lessons from the Classroom’, Research Papers in Education, 2006, 21, 2, 133–49.
84. D. Nicol and D. Macfarlane-Dick, ‘Formative Assessment and Self-Regulated Learning: A Model and Seven Principles of Good Feedback Practice’, Studies in Higher Education, 2006, 31, 2, 199–218.
85. C. Rust, ‘Towards a Scholarship of Assessment’, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 2007, 32, 2, 229–37.
86. R. Sadler, ‘Indeterminacy in the Use of Preset Criteria for Assessment and Grading’, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 2009, 34, 2, 159–79.
87. H. Torrance, ‘Assessment as Learning? How the Use of Explicit Learning Objectives, Assessment Criteria and Feedback in Post-Secondary Education and Training Can Come to Dominate Learning’, Assessment in Education, 2007, 14, 3, 281–94.
88. A. Hume and R. Coll, ‘Assessment of Learning, for Learning and as Learning: New Zealand Case Studies’, Assessment in Education, 2009, 16, 3, 269–90.
89. H. Torrance, ‘Formative Assessment at the Crossroads: Conformative, Deformative and Transformative Assessment’, Oxford Review of Education (forthcoming).
Biography
Torrance is Professor of Education and Director of the Education and Social Research Institute at Manchester Metropolitan University. He was formerly Lecturer, Reader, and Professor of Education at the University of Sussex (1989–2003). He has conducted many research projects on all aspects of assessment in primary, secondary, and post-compulsory education, and has published extensively in the field. He has also undertaken many curriculum and programme evaluations, including in India for the British Council/Overseas Development Agency (now DfID). He is a consultant to the World Bank on assessment. He is also highly experienced in editorial work, currently co-editing the British Educational Research Journal, and is Series Editor of ‘Assessing Assessment’ and ‘Conducting Educational Research’ for the Open University Press.
