National Testing and the Improvement of Classroom Teaching: Can they coexist?

Abstract

Can children's responses to tests be used to provide useful diagnostic information for classroom teachers? This article describes an analysis of children's performance in the 1997 UK mathematics tests by 7 and 14 year-olds. The children's responses and errors were scaled against their ability using Rasch methodology. These were then interpreted in terms of the literature on the psychology of mathematics education, especially that related to misconceptions, and an attempt was made to describe children's progression in thinking as it relates to their test performance. This work has been reported to all primary and secondary schools in England and Wales, and is intended to provide a description of what the children believe and know. As such it provides a resource to help raise teachers' awareness of their children's thinking and present openings for diagnostic assessment and teaching. Opportunities for and obstacles to developing this approach in future are discussed.