Svensk forskning om bedömning och betyg 1990-2005

Abstract

This article is a review of Swedish research on assessment and grading from 1990 - 2005. The review is limited to assessment related to educational contexts – pre - school, comprehensive school, upper secondary school, and higher education – and to the assessment of pupils’/students’ knowledge. Thereby related areas, like special educational assessments in order to diagnose or classify students, have been excluded. The review is based on approxim ately 300 texts – research reports, articles, dissertations, and working papers (conference papers were not included). The results of the review show that psychometric tradition dominates Swedish research on assessment from comprehensive school to higher e ducation. Within this tradition, the field is well represented. Concerning research on assessment related to the levels in the educational system, comprehensive school (secondary school) and higher education dominate the field. So far, there are but few ex amples of research on assessment of young children (pre - school and primary school). Much of the research related to comprehensive school is based on data deriving from national and international assessments. This is also the case for research on upper seco ndary school. However, here international measurements are few. Instead the final grades, being part of the basis for selection to higher education, are focused in many reports. Concerning assessment in higher education, the research is either focused on a ssessment for higher education (the Swedish Scholastic Assessment Test, SweSAT) or on assessment in higher education. In the latter case, reports on aspects of developmental projects concerning new forms of assessment dominate. The main part of the researc h within the psychometric research tradition is published in research reports, articles and working papers. Contrary to this mainstream research on assessment, the dissertations (eight doctoral and sic licentiate) represent other research interests. Many o f them complement the psychometric descriptions and analyses with teachers’ and students’ perspectives on assessment and grading. They also employ other methods – mainly interviews. Due to the fact that they are so few, these pictures so far are only fragm entary and need to be completed. Also there is almost a total lack of research on classroom assessment and of teachers’ assessment practice.