The Historical Study of Achievement Testing, 1975–2005: Toward a Research Agenda

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Reconsidering the Standard in Education

Abstract

This paper outlines an agenda for research to explain how the current achievement testing regime in the United States developed and why this happened, with a view to better understanding the dynamics of educational change in recent decades. It is historical in orientation and asks several fundamental questions: what were the social and political circumstances that gave rise to the predominance of achievement tests, how did the tests and their roles change as a consequence, and who were the historical actors that contributed to these developments? It can be considered a start to conversations about how best to approach this question, which is perhaps one of the most important of the current era.

Author

• John L. Rury, The University of Kansas