The Potentials, Politics and Practices of International Educational Assessment

在过去的二十年里，教育政策和实践受到越来越多地实施国际教育评估的影响。当代最具影响力的国际评估包括PISA(国际学生评估计划)、TIMSS(国际数学和科学趋势调查)和PIAAC(国际成人能力评估计划)。经济合作与发展组织(OECD)管理着PISA和PIAAC，并已成为全球教育政策的有影响力的跨国参与者--在OECD成员国之内，而且越来越多地在OECD成员国之外。国际教育大数据的重要性、比较方法、其解释及其对政策和实践的影响越来越被学者视为一种跨国家治理的技术--不仅提供了比较和学习成功的教育制度的潜力，而且还提出了关于这种数据如何框架和影响国家和国际教育政策(以及各国如何使用和回应这种数据)的政治问题，以及与跨文化评估和比较实践相关的具有挑战性的技术和概念问题(即考试标准化和修改问题，以便在不同的文化和语言背景下使用)。近年来，国际评估引起了相当大的学术关注，包括一些经过编辑的文集(例如，Meyer和Benavot 2013；Pereyra，Kotthoff等人)。2011年；恩格尔和威廉姆斯2013年；以及2013年和2014年世界教育年鉴)。然而，该领域的各个方面(我们称之为潜力、政治和实践)尚未纳入一个共同的领域和框架。在这一系列研讨会中，我们打算将国际评估的不同要素和重点结合起来，形成一个综合的“国际评估研究”领域(Addey 2013)。这一系列研究将由一个名为国际评估实验室的新的研究人员网络负责。该网络总部设在英国，但越来越多地让全球层面的学术研究人员参与进来，以反映全球对这一现象的兴趣。当然，也有学术网络和专业协会对这些主题感兴趣。我们的网络的独特之处在于，我们致力于与国际测试机构合作并参与其中，并将“内幕账户”(国际评估的第一个账户)作为调查的基础。研讨会系列的目的是就关键政策主题提供严格的荟萃分析，向学者、测试机构和国际评估数据的最终用户提供信息。我们的目标是：作为一个对国际教育评估的潜力、政治、实践和影响进行学术调查的工具；为国际评估研究制定一个主题议程，作为学术研究和出版的一个重要新领域；围绕一系列共同的兴趣和关切，建立一个可持续和强大的学者和从业者国际网络。我们将举办一系列六个(两天)具有鲜明国际定位的研讨会(包括在英国、美国、秘鲁和布鲁塞尔举行的研讨会)。这反映了国际评估及其影响的全球性。这些研讨会将包括公开全体讲座(将录制视频并在网上提供)，以及为受邀与会者举办的应邀小型活动。研讨会将有助于建立我们的研究网络，由于测试机构和评估数据的最终用户(包括政策制定者、教育家、公民社会组织和媒体)的参与，我们将有可能产生重大影响。

In the last two decades, educational policy and practice have been heavily influenced by the increasing implementation of international educational assessments. The most influential contemporary international assessments include PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment carried; TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Survey) and PIAAC (Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies). The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) administers PISA and PIAAC, and has become an influential trans-national actor on global educational policy - within, and increasingly beyond OECD member countries. The significance of international educational big data, the comparative methodology, its interpretation and impacts on policy and practice is increasingly viewed by scholars as a technology of trans-national governance - offering not only potentials for comparison and learning about successful educational systems, but also political questions about how such data frames and influences national and international educational policies (and how countries use and respond to such data), and challenging technical and conceptual issues associated with the practice of cross-cultural assessment and comparison (i.e. issues of test standardization and modification for use across culturally and linguistically diverse contexts). International assessments have attracted considerable academic attention in recent years including a number of edited collections (e.g. Meyer and Benavot 2013; Pereyra, Kotthoff, et al. 2011; Engel and Williams 2013; and the 2013 and 2014 World Yearbooks in Education). However, the various aspects of the field (we call Potentials, Politics and Practices) have not yet been integrated into a shared field and framework. In this seminar series we intend to bring together the different elements and foci of international assessment into a combined field of 'International Assessment Studies' (Addey 2013). The series will be run by a new network of researchers called the Laboratory of International Assessment. The network is UK based, but increasingly involves academic researchers on a global level to reflect the global interest in the phenomenon. There are of course academic networks and professional associations with an interest in these themes. What makes our network distinctive is our commitment to work with and involve international testing agencies, and to use 'insider accounts' (first had accounts of international assessment in practice) as the basis for investigation.The aim of the seminar series is to provide rigorous meta-analysis on key policy themes, to inform academics, testing agencies and the end users of international assessment data. Our objectives are: to act as a vehicle for academic enquiry into the potentials, politics and practices and impacts of international educational assessments ; to develop a thematic agenda for the international assessment studies as an important new field of academic research and publication ; and to build a sustainable and robust international network of academics and practitioners around a set of common interests and concerns.We will run a series of six (two day) seminars with a distinctly international orientation (including seminars in the UK, United States, Peru, and Brussels). This reflects the global nature of international assessments and their impacts. These seminars will include both public plenary lectures (that will be video recorded and made available on-line), and invited smaller events for invited participants. The seminars will help to build our research network, and because of the involvement of testing agencies and end-users of assessment data (including policy makers, educationalists, civil society organisations and media), we will have the potential for significant impact.