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Barriers exist on large scale assessment when students are not able to perform at potential for a variety of reasons. Accommodations are mostly available for students who meet criteria for diagnosed disability or criteria for the identification of students who have English as a second language. However, knowing that students have diverse needs, accommodations for a few may not be providing appropriate access for all. Options for designing broader universal design for learning (UDL) on large scale assessment, through strategies that are typically restricted to special accommodations, increase access.

Fabricated data jeopardize the reliability of large-scale population surveys and reduce the comparability of such efforts by destroying the linkage between data and measurement constructs. Such data result in the loss of comparability across participating countries and, in the case of cyclical surveys, between past and present surveys. This paper aims to describe how data fabrication can be understood in the context of the complex processes involved in the collection, handling, submission and analysis of large-scale assessment data. The actors involved in those processes, and their possible motivations for data fabrication, are also elaborated.

Computer-based assessments produce new types of information that enable us to detect the possibility of data fabrication, and therefore the need for further investigation and analysis. The paper presents three examples that illustrate how data fabrication was identified and documented in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and discusses the resulting remediation efforts.

For two countries that participated in the first round of PIAAC, the data showed a subset of interviewers who handled many more cases than others. In Case 1, the average proficiency for respondents in those interviewers’ caseloads was much higher than expected and included many duplicate response patterns. In Case 2, anomalous response patterns were identified. Case 3 presents findings based on data analyses for one PISA country, where results for human-coded responses were shown to be highly inflated compared to past results.

This paper shows how new sources of data, such as timing information collected in computer-based assessments, can be combined with other traditional sources to detect fabrication.

Large-scale assessment has been used in many education systems as an instrument to evaluate educational performance nationally. This practice is based on the concept of epistemic governance which encourages school accountability. This study aims to explore teachers' perspectives regarding the value and uses of national large-scale assessment (NLSA), highlighting its relevance across contexts.

Using qualitative data, this paper presents the case of the Israeli NLSA tests – the Meitzav, while examining the perceptions and actions in which teachers engage to follow-up on the test results, and the extent to which they implement pedagogical change in light of the test results.

The findings showed that teachers tend to use the NLSA test results as a pedagogical tool to improve learning processes to a limited extent. They concede that most activity involving the tests at the school and class levels is dedicated to preparation and not to pedagogical change. Some explanations are suggested.

This paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the NLSA testing regime for the school, curriculum and pedagogy.

This policy brief, the third in the AERI-NEPC eBrief series “Understanding validity issues around the world”, discusses validity issues surrounding International Large Scale Assessment (ILSA) programs. ILSA programs, such as the well-known Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), are rapidly expanding around the world today. In this eBrief, the authors examine what “validity” means when applied to published results and reports of programs like the PISA.

This policy brief is based on a synthesis of conference proceedings and review of selected pieces of extant literature. It begins by summarizing perspectives of an invited expert panel on the topic. To that synthesis, the authors add their own analysis of key issues. They conclude by offering recommendations for test developers and test users.

ILSA programs and tests, while offering valuable information, should be read and used cautiously and in context. All parties need to be on the same page to maximize valid use of ILSA results, to obtain the greatest educational and social benefits, and to minimize negative consequences. The authors propose several recommendations for test makers and ILSA program leaders, and ILSA users. To ILSA leaders and researchers: provide more cautionary information about how to correctly interpret the ILSA results, particularly country rankings, given contextual differences among nations. Provide continuing psychometric or research resources so as to address or reduce various sources of error in reports. Encourage policy makers in different nations to share the responsibility for ensuring more contextualized (and valid) interpretations of ILSA reports and subsequent policy development. Raise awareness among policy makers to look beyond simple rankings and pay more attention to inter-country differences. For consumers of ILSA results and reports: read the fine print, not just the country rankings, to interpret ILSA results correctly in particular regions/nations. When looking to high-ranking countries as role models, be sure to consider the “whole picture”. Use ILSA data as complements to other national- and state-level educational assessments to better gauge the status of the country's education system and subsequent policy directions.

By translating complex information on validity issues with all concerned ILSA stakeholders in mind, this policy brief will improve uses and applications of ILSA information in national and regional policy contexts.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine what it means for students with extensive support needs (ESN) to have opportunities to learn (OTL), why OTL is inexplicably tied to inclusive practices, and the in-school and post-school outcomes when students have OTL. Research will be provided that supports positive in-school and post-school outcomes, when students are provided equitable learning opportunities in inclusive contexts. Given the difference in possible outcomes for students with ESN when they do and do not have OTL, excluding them from general education contexts, where they have the best access to the intended and enacted curricula, is both unethical and limiting to society as a whole.

This paper aims to provide insight into the use of a standard for condition assessment.

The paper is based on a literature review, an analysis of the development, content and practical use of the Dutch Standard for Condition Assessment of Buildings, and the findings of several research projects about condition assessment and maintenance planning by Dutch housing associations.

By using the standard for condition assessment, building inspectors can provide property managers with objective data about the condition status of building components. Aggregated condition data could be used for setting condition targets for built assets and for benchmarking. It is anticipated that as a result of the standardisation, condition surveys will become more reliable and as a consequence more popular among large‐scale property owners.

The standard has been introduced recently. At present there is little experience of the use of (aggregated) condition data for maintenance planning and benchmarking built assets.

The standard is a tool to assess the technical status of the properties to underpin the long‐term maintenance expectations. Condition assessment is not meant for preparing the annual maintenance budget and planning of the work. Supplementary information is needed in the phase of preparing for the execution of remedial work.

This paper provides practical tools for condition assessment and maintenance planning.

The research activity presented in this paper has the objective of developing models for the evaluation of technological risk and loss of production due to failures, which are among the criterions that enable the choice of optimal scenarios for energy supply. This activity is based on the European Project “Risk of Energy Availability: Common Corridors for Europe Supply Security” (REACCESS), which aims to develop an analytical tool to analyse scenarios for future secure European Union (EU) energy supply.

The paper proposes an innovative approach, since nowadays a generalised analytic model for risk assessment in large‐scale energetic systems does not exist. In particular, the methodology adopted includes models to assess risk for people safety, risk for the environment and availability for corridors and the related infrastructures. As regards technological risk, accidents producing loss of lives in the population and environmental damage are taken into account; while for the loss of production primary attention is paid to technical failures and maintenance.

Since the analytic models developed perform a large‐scale assessment, they must be flexible and simplified to adapt to different situations and to be easily updated when different future scenarios are investigated. Details of the analysis depend on the precision of data collected and inserted in the models. The damage assessment is affected by deficiency and uncertainties related to territorial and statistical data. Nevertheless, the outcomes obtained for each energy commodity are reasonable and often comparable to literature data.

Based on this study output, technological risk can be considered, more systematically than in the past, in the selection of EU strategies for future energy supply. The corridors social cost is included in future strategies selection, in addition to purely economical and environmental evaluations.

Open Courseware, in many ways, was the starting point towards mainstream discussion and adoption of open learning, particularly in higher education. In its first iteration, the concept specifically excluded assessment recognition, and credentialisation, which aims to ‘liberate’ knowledge without shattering the designing, teaching and awarding processes traditional education has relied upon for decades, if not centuries.

There has been a notable growth in the number, participants, and frequency of international assessments of student academic performance over the past 50 years. This chapter provides a structure for the perspectives that could be used to analyze this rise. This chapter highlights case study examples of specific countries' choices to participate in particular assessments. It further describes the utility of three analytic frameworks in understanding the decision factors, diffusion mechanisms, and environmental dynamics that relate to international testing. Factors such as the cost of testing, the cultural connections between nations participating, and the temporal relevance of testing to today's focus on accountability arise in illustrations of the transmission mechanism for international achievement tests. This chapter organizes large and diverse amounts of important testing sampling frame information in a unique way. The questions we ask are driven by the framework we begin analyzing with. Organizations conducting these tests can better understand the touchpoints for nations deciding whether or not to participate. Concerns about developing country participation, for example, can be better addressed.