Book Description

Education systems in more than 50 countries, most of them in the industrial world, have in recent years shown an interest in obtaining information on what their students have actually learned as a result of their educational experiences. This interest has been manifested either by developing national procedures to assess students' achievements or by participating in international studies of student achievement. This book provides introductory information on ways of assessing the learning outcomes of education systems. It considers the nature, choice, and use of indicators and describes numerous approaches to assessing learning outcomes in selected industrial countries (the United States and the United Kingdom) and developing countries (Chile, Colombia, Mauritius, Namibia, and Thailand). The authors also review systems of comparative international assessment and debate whether developing countries should participate in them. The book contains boxes and tables; an appendix features a national assessment checklist.