ABSTRACT
Of the many changes which have occurred in education over the last ten years the raised profile of assessment and testing is one of the most obvious and dramatic. Education is not an isolated case, for the growth in a demand that various 'services' be subjected to a thorough going appraisal of their 'effectiveness', 'efficiency', 'quality' and 'value for money' has been ubiquitous. In the days before the implementation of a compulsory curriculum within the state sector, the amount of testing or assessment undertaken by schools was largely a matter resting within the discretion of particular establishments, perhaps further informed by the wishes of the local education authority. Most schools assessed basic literacy and numeracy using the well-known tests available but beyond this there was little uniformity in content, type or regularity of procedure. The weekly spelling test was probably the highest common factor to be found.
