ABSTRACT
The advent of mass schooling in the 19th century brought with it the need for assessment tools that would provide a useful and publicly acceptable means for judging the quality of educational performance by individuals, by teachers and by schools. Since that time, literally millions of hours have been devoted by testing agencies and assessment experts of all kinds to the search for ever more trustworthy, ever more precise, tools with which to measure the quality of educational performance. Despite attempts over more than a century to portray educational assessment as a science, dedicated to the objective measurement of achievement, common sense and personal experience alone are sufficient to challenge this view as a myth. From the chagrin of failing student at one end of the continuum to the policy decisions made in the light of international comparisons of national achievement at the other, assessment plays a pivotal role in the educational priorities and practices of individuals, institutions and governments.
