ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes high-profile, large-scale assessments in science education at the international level and at the national and state levels within the United States. It builds upon the authors’ prior handbook chapter on this same topic (Britton & Schneider, 2007). As is customary for a next edition, the following chapter first renders much of the same conceptual territory by removing some older material and providing updates. Further, in order to reflect changes in this field over the last decade, discussions are added about two new topics: (1) brief discussion of large-scale assessments for technology and engineering education and (2) discussion of new uses of technology in large-scale science assessments.
