Educational Assessment in a Time of Reform: Standards and Standard Setting for Excellence in Education(Perspectives on Education in Africa)

Educational Assessment in a Time of Reform provides background information on large scale examination systems more generally and the South African examination specifically. It traces the reforms in the education system of South Africa since 1994 and provides a description of the advances in modern test theory that could be considered for future standard setting endeavours. At the heart of the book is the debate on whether the current standard of education in Africa is good enough . If not, then how can it be improved? The aim of this book is to provide a point of departure for discussions on standard-setting, quality assurance, equating of examinations and assessment approaches. From this point of departure recommendations for practices in general and the exit-level (Grade 12) examination results in particular can be made. This book is ideal reading for principals, teachers, academics and researchers in the fields of educational assessment, measurement, and evaluation.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Background and introduction Historical context Aim and objectives of the book Systems theory as a conceptual framework References Chapter 2 Background to large-scale examination systems Introduction Designing large-scale examination systems Examples of large-scale examination systems Conclusion References Chapter 3 Perspectives on education assessment reform Standards-based education reform (SBER) Education assessment reform versus the complexity of assessment standards and academic performance Conclusion References Chapter 4 Equating examinations and assessment standards in the South African context Introduction Equating high-stakes examinations and testing The history of equating Grade 12 examination marks in South Africa Norm-referenced assessment Transition from the Senior Certificate (SC) to the new National Curriculum Statement (NCS) Research related to the comparability of curriculum and assessment demands of the NCS Standardising the new NCS results References Chapter 5 The management and quality assurance of school-based assessment in South Africa Introduction Social moderation The low reliability of school-based assessment Statistical moderation of school-based assessment (SBA) marks Statistical moderation Conclusion References Chapter 6 Using examination and assessment scores: Different ways of reporting performance Introduction Different ways of reporting performance Reporting performance is directly related to the type and purpose of the test Reporting standards on tests Measuring continuous school-based assessment Comparing results over time – how to measure improvement Strategies for interpreting data Working with examinations and assessment dataConclusion References Chapter 7 Rethinking standard setting: Drawing from advances in modern test theory Introduction Introduction to item response theory (IRT) Introduction to Rasch-measurement Standard setting methods Traditional methods and methods drawing on modern test theory Different standards setting methods Standard setting using modern test theory Linking and equating in modern test theory: Possibilities for linking examinations across years Conclusion References Chapter 8 Item banking and computer adaptive testing Introduction Computer adaptive testing (CAT) System design and operations Item pool development and testing Item response theory and calibration Test equating Reliability and measurement precision Validity Advantages and disadvantages of computer adaptive testing Definition and development of item banks Procedure for preparing an item bank Advantages and disadvantages of item banks Validity and reliability considerations Conclusion References Chapter 9 Developing a computerised system for large scale computer adaptive testing (CAT) Introduction Performance benchmarks Design requirements and electronic platform Design logic of a cat-system for the NCS (Grade 12) System technology and functionality standards Conclusion References Chapter 10 Educational assessment in a time of reform: Where to from here? Introduction Thinking about examination systems within a 21st century skills framework Making use of modern psychometric theory Thinking about moving towards incorporating mixed methods approaches Concluding remarks References

About the Author :
Coert Loock is a professor at Department of Education Leadership and Management, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Vanessa Scherman is a professor at Department of Psychology of Education, University of South Africa, South Africa.