Division H - International Comittee Invited Session

American Educational Research Association Conference 2009

Division H - Research, Evaluation, and Assessment in Schools

International Committee --- invited session

Title:
International Perspectives: The Impact of Assessment on School Curriculum, Classroom Teaching, and Student Learning

Session Participants:

A Decade of Evolution of Assessment Policy and Practice in Irish Education
*Eugene Wall (Mary Immaculate College - Ireland)

School-Based Assessment Reform in Hong Kong on English Language Education: The Impact on Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning
*Christine Davison (University NSW, Sydney, Australia)

How the United States Is Narrowing Curriculum and Creating the Possibility of Economic Suicide
*David C. Berliner (Arizona State University - USA)


Chair & Session organizer: Zsuzsanna R. Szabo (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY)
Chair: James G. Deegan (Mary Immaculate College - Ireland)
Discussant: Michael J. Flicek (Natrona County School District - WY)

Abstract:
Large scale assessments are used around the world for a variety of purposes including sorting and selecting students, school accountability, and to inform school improvement efforts. These large scale assessments typically have one primary purpose but they are often used to serve more than one purpose. The papers presented in this session will address the issue of the intended and unintended impacts of large scale assessments on school curriculum, classroom teaching, and student learning from the perspectives of educational scholars in a European country, Asia, and the United States. The papers will consider the positive and negative, intended and unintended impacts associated with varying purposes of the assessments in the different international contexts on curriculum, classroom teaching, and student learning.