Abstract
In educational contexts, assessments may be designed to target students, preservice teachers, or teachers, either as individuals or as representatives of a group, and for a multitude of purposes. One key aim of assessment in mathematics education is to provide evidence that can be used to make decisions about or improve mathematics education, which then raises questions about which aspects of mathematical competence should be assessed—as well as how and for what purpose. This review paper addresses three related themes: (1) issues related to the assessment process and to the development of assessments that can validly assess mathematical competence in all its complexity; (2) issues related to educational policy and policy-making based on assessment data, in particular the reciprocal relationship between assessment and policy; and (3) issues related to equity, such as gender issues or the achievement gap between majority and minority students. Awareness of the relation between assessment, teaching, and learning is shown throughout the paper. Strong relationships between the three focus areas are found, that impact assessment validity and call for further development of assessment practices in mathematics education.
Highlights
Why have a ZDM Mathematics Education issue on assessment in mathematics education? The last three decades have seen an increasing focus on assessment
The purpose of the analysis has been to describe the current state of knowledge on assessment in mathematics education— in relation to the three areas of concern we identified above—and to discuss priorities for future investigations and development
In the sections that focussed on policy, research on policy-making for primary and secondary education emerged more often than research on policy issues targeted towards mathematics teacher education; we found the same situation for research on equity
Summary
Why have a ZDM Mathematics Education issue on assessment in mathematics education? The last three decades have seen an increasing focus on assessment (see, for instance, Wiliam 2007; Suurtamm et al 2016). Black and Wiliam 2005; Kaiser et al 2017; Niss 2007; Suurtaam et al 2016) still remain unanswered These debates about the methodological and technical issues connected to assessment design and implementation are concerned with what we assess and how we assess and what conclusions we can draw from our assessments. The goal of this paper is to discuss issues connected with each of these three areas separately; we do so on the basis of a selective review of existing research literature on assessment in mathematics education. Policy issues related to the interpretation, use, and misuse of assessment outcomes in policy development and the possible consequences for mathematics education This aspect includes a discussion of the reciprocal relationship between assessment and policy. We have included them all among the pool of papers, book chapters, and articles that we used for this review; many of them appear in more than one of the three sections
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