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THE INTERSECTION OF TEST IMPACT, VALIDATION, AND EDUCATIONAL REFORM POLICY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2009

Micheline Chalhoub-Deville
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Abstract

The article addresses the intersection of policy, validity, and impact within the context of educational reform in U.S. schools, looking in particular at the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (2001). The discussion makes a case that it is important to reconsider the established views regarding the responsibility of test developers and users in investigating impact given the conflated roles of developers and users under NCLB. The article also introduces the concept of social impact analysis (SIA) to argue for an expansion of the traditional conceptualization of impact research. SIA promotes a proactive rather than a reactive approach to impact, in order to inform policy formulation upfront.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 29 , March 2009 , pp. 118 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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