At the centre of an effective policy framework for student assessment is the expectation that assessment supports student learning. This requires clear and widely understood national learning objectives against which students’ level and progress are assessed. Common expected learning outcomes are usually defined by grade or competency level and can be set out as part of national learning standards or integrated into national curriculum frameworks.
Student assessment
Student assessment helps focus attention on what matters most in education: the learning progress and outcomes of each student. The primary purposes of student assessment are to determine what students know and can do, and to help students advance in their learning and make informed decisions on their next steps.
Key messages
Both formative and summative assessments should be well embedded within broader assessment frameworks. While summative assessment is important for recording or certifying learning at key stages of the education process, it is the daily engagements of teachers and students with assessment information that will lead to sustainable improvements in learning outcomes. Formative assessment provides teachers with information on aspects of learning as they are still developing to shape instruction and support students’ further learning.
To ensure a broad approach to student assessment, education systems can provide a range of nationally validated assessments and build teacher capacity to develop their own assessments that respond to classroom needs. While external assessments can help clarify learning expectations for all schools, an overreliance on such instruments can distort the education process to focus only on what is being assessed in the test. Teacher-developed instruments are embedded in regular coursework and can capture competencies that are difficult to measure in standardized (external) assessment.
Context
Assessments in lower secondary education serve different purposes
Of the 32 OECD and partner countries which conduct at least one national/central assessment at the lower secondary level, about three-quarters reported making moderate or high levels of use of them for formative purposes, and about two-fifths reported doing so for summative purposes. Many countries use such assessments to inform teachers, students and parents about student knowledge in assessed subject areas. Some countries use them to monitor the education system at the school and/or the system level.
Main purposes of national/central assessments in lower secondary education (2023)
Most 15-year-old students are assessed with mandatory standardised tests
On average across OECD countries, six in ten students attended schools whose principal reported that mandatory standardised tests are used once or twice a year and the same share of students attended a school where teacher-developed tests and teachers’ judgemental ratings are used at least once a month. On average across OECD countries, the use of teacher-developed tests and teachers’ judgemental ratings to assess student progress decreased moderately between 2015 and 2022, but the use of standardised tests remained stable.
Trends in the frequency of using standardised and teacher-developed tests (2022)
