Educational Assessment – Trends in Research, Policy and Practice

It is the purpose of this chapter to unpack some of the complex layers surrounding assessment as a phenomenon in education. For this purpose, the chapter first visits different research perspec-tives on education assessment and maps some of the scholarly debates in the field. Second, the chapter approaches the question of how to balance standardization with human diversity in an assessment system through the interrogation of two paradigms in educational assessment re-search. Finally, the chapter outlines some of the implications for policy and practice in a conclud-ing discussion.