ABSTRACT
Irrespective of the structural features and institutional components that may differentiate their educational systems, nations around the world have implemented the principles of standard-based assessment and assessment-based accountability as the key reform measures for what is being perceived as the emerging knowledge-based economy. According to Benavot and Tanner [quoted in Kamens and McNeely (2010, 19), 81% of the developed nations and 51% of the developing countries have implemented national testing as of 2006. The global prominence of this particular education policy has been fuelled by supranational organisations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as well as by various regional organisations. Serving as the hubs of globally circulating educational policy discourses (Kamens and McNeely 2010), these organisations promote strong accountability measures based on standardised assessment, benchmarking, and transparent disclosure of information (e.g. test results) as advocated by new public management models (Ball 2008).
