From Screening to Improving Quality: The case of Latin America

Abstract

Use of testing expanded in Latin America during the last 50 years from academic centres to policy makers and mass media. The expansion has been the result of the perseverance of many researchers and practitioners, cheaper and more user-friendly technol ogy, demands on labour and its ability to compete in a global market, and international comparisons showing the low adult functional literacy and poor performance of Latin American students. The first boost to testing was generated by the need for screening students for higher education. Later on there was a demand for identifying quality gaps causing repetition problems and low performance. In the 1980s a few countries used testing to assess alternative solutions and new ways to deliver teaching and managing classroom processes. By the mid-1990s a dozen countries were operating national testing systems. Recent tasks have been the identification of reading problems; the conducting of international compari sons; and the selection of effective models to raise quality. Even though only a few countries have taken full advantage of the whole set of possible uses of testing, there is a growing interest in using testing for raising students' achievement.

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