Achievement Test and Test-Based Accountability in Norway: Comparison, Benchmarking, and Visibility

• In Event: 75.011 - The Intended and Side Effects of Accountability Reforms in Education: International Perspectives

Abstract

Objectives
Shortly after the first PISA results were published in 2001, a national quality assessment system (NQAS) was implemented in the Norwegian school system. The Norwegian performance, which was below the average of OECD-countries, was important in legitimising this system. According to current national educational policies in Norway, local authorities, school principals and teachers, are expected to use this information to improve their practice in ways that enhance student outcomes, particularly students’ performance on national tests.

This article aims to demonstrate how the OECD, and particularly the PISA, has influenced assessment policies and TBA as part of school governing in Norway. First, I examine the key functions of international and national assessment policies. Second, I explore the ways of which the use of national test results is included in local quality management systems (LQMS) and how superintendents, principals and teachers perceive the use of these results. Finally, I discuss the functions of national achievement tests, how comparison and benchmarking are integrated in school governing and possible consequences for accountability practices in which visibility creates pressure on key actors in the school system.


Theoretical perspectives
School governing and accountability practices are analysed from the perspective of tools and devices put into play to structure policies (Lascoumes & Le Gales, 2007). Such an approach considers that tools such as national achievement tests “organize specific social relations between the state and those it is addressed to” (Lascoumes & Le Gales, 2007, p. 4).
Methods and data sources
The analysis draws on data from interviews conducted with superintendents (3), principals (9) and teachers (13) in three municipalities. To depict some of the variation among the Norwegian municipalities, they were selected according to the principles of maximum diversity (Yin, 2009). They differ according to structure, organisation and quality management systems. Three schools were selected in each municipality. Key documents describing LQMS and annual reports were collected and analysed as well as school development plans.

Findings
Findings show that test data have become a central feature of quality monitoring and development work aiming to increase transparency about school results. Benchmarking represents a means of holding the principals accountable for driving improvement. The use of test results seems to organise new types of interactions on local levels. The principals in all three municipalities expressed concern with comparisons and the school’s position on the ranking list – if the results are good – represents an important incentive for further work at the same time as it indicates “luck” with the student cohort. The teachers seemed to pay less attention to national test results but they understand that the principals are put under pressure to perform well.

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work
When national test results are used for accountability purposes, findings show that accountability seems to subsume visibility. Compared to other countries, such as England and the US, schools in Norway are not in danger of getting closed, etc. However, the visibility can represent a serious consequence in terms of school reputation and the public’s trust in schools.

Author

• Guri Skedsmo, University of Oslo