Understanding the Unintended Consequences of Assessment Policies

• In Event: Assessment Policy and Practice: Examining the (Unintended) Consequences

Abstract

This paper presents a theoretical approach to assessment systems that aims to enhance our understanding about the unintended consequences of assessment polices. While the notion of assessment systems is frequently used as a conceptual artefact to regulate and controlling assessment practices across an education system, the paper argues for the need of looking at them as systems of practice. This sociological approach explains why assessment in schools occurs in a less controllable way than it is expected in policy documents. It analyzes the cases of NCLB in the US and the Finnish policy of assessment, to show the empirical applicability of this reasoning, and how it deepens our understanding about the distance between intended and unintended consequences of assessment policies.

Author

• Leonel Perez Exposito, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana