PREAL Working Group on Standards and Assessment National Standards, International Tests and Classroom-Based Assessments in Latin America PREAL Working Group on Standards and Assessment 54th Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society Chicago, March 3, 2010.

Working group objectives contribute to improving the quality and relevance of assessment concepts and practices – both external and school-based – and to extend, consolidate, legitimate and utilize the space they´ve already occupied in policy and program definition in Latin American countries, and Promote the discussion and generation of consensus with respect to content and performance standards, still scarcely developed in the region.

The WG today Over 2000 registered members from almost all LA countries, except for about 100 from the US, Canada and European countries. 26% public sector officers or technicians, 25% school personnel, 15% higher education staff, 11% NGOs, 5% students, 4% assessment specialists A multidisciplinary, 8-member Steering Committee including assessment specialists, academics and policy makers A dozen frequent collaborators

Working Group activities Studies (main challenges, dissemination of test results, role of the press, costs, standards processes, classroom-based assessment) Website (links to national and international test reports and supporting documentation, research papers using test results, conceptual and methodological papers on assessment and standards policies and practices, national curricula and standards, press coverage of testing issues, our own activities) Network newsletter and electronic bulletin Electronic fora on key controversial topics Seminars, conferences, workshops Publication of study results, primers, position statement Informal exchanges with members and others Information clearinghouse Estudios: Determinants of student achievement – Gilbert Valverde & Martín Benavides Definition of learning expectations in Latin American reformed curricula – Guillermo Ferrer Quality and challenges of Latin American assessment systems – Pedro Ravela, Gilbert Valverde, Richard Wolfe, Juan Manuel Esquivel, Patricia Arregui “State of the art” of Latin American assessment systems – Guillermo Ferrer Dissemination of test results by Ministries of Education – Pedro Ravela The Press and tests – Pedro Ravela et al. The costs of assessments – Larry Wolff Technical challenges of Latin American tests – Richard Wolfe Standards-setting processes in Latin America – Guillermo Ferrer La evaluación en aula two “primers” or introductory texts to key issues of standards and assessments…likely to become features in the syllabi of undergraduate and graduate training courses and references in other academics’ articles: The “Fichas Didácticas: Para comprender las evaluaciones educativas”, an introduction to standardized educational assessments – Pedro Ravela An introduction to standards – Guillermo Ferrer. It is also currently finishing a collective text on “The educational assessments which Latin America needs”, which draws from the perspectives and experience of its Steering Committee members, plus several other network members who have reviewed and commented on various drafts.

Go to “Grupos de Trabajo – Estándares y Evaluación” http://www.preal.org Go to “Actividades” Go to “Grupos de Trabajo – Estándares y Evaluación” http://www.preal.org/Grupo2.asp?Id_Grupo=3

Today Classroom-based and External Assessments in Latin American Primary Schools. Pedro Ravela, Beatriz Picaroni and Graciela Loureiro Instituto de Evaluación de la Universidad Católica del Uruguay Learning Standards Development in Five Latin American Countries. Guillermo Ferrer. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina. Sixth-grade Student Employment and Academic Achivement: SERCE results from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Perú. David Post. Pennsylvania State University and FLACSO, Quito. National Policy Implications of International Test Results in Latin America: The Case of Six Countries Participating in the OECD´s PISA and UNESCO´s SERCE. Felipe Martínez Rizo. Universidad de Aguas Calientes, México Discussants: Laurence Wolff and Gilbert Valverde