International Achievement Testing, Education Policy, and Large-Scale Reform

The global educational reform movement implies not only convergence but also coordination through various world agencies based on standardization, choice, competition, and data-driven accountability (Peters & Besley, 2014). In the realm of primary and secondary education, the latter has been manifested through the widespread adoption of various standards-based reform models that couple curriculum standards and large-scale assessment programs as the primary lever to spur improvements in the overall quality of an education system (Volante, 2012). Teachers, administrators, and policymakers working within standards-based reform contexts are often compelled to make refi nements to their practice to improve student learning and ultimately a nation’s intellectual capital-the collective achievement of their elementary and secondary students. The latter may be mandated through curricular reforms and is further bolstered by the inundation of popular media reports that discuss the decline of educational standards-as measured by large-scale assessment programs (see Alphonso, 2014; Andrews et al., 2014; Dillon, 2010; McMahon, 2014; Rich, 2014). Establishing and measuring the attainment of student achievement standards in core curriculum areas such as reading, writing, mathematics, and science is intended to provide the necessary impetus to facilitate large-scale education system reform. Student achievement data across schools, districts, states/territories/provinces, and countries internationally can be compared and contrasted, acting as a lever to inform education policy formation, strategic planning, and ultimately education governance issues. Advocates of standards-based reform argue that large-scale assessment programs provide valuable and necessary information to assist in the revision of national evaluation systems, curriculum standards, and performance targets.