The Costs of Student Assessments

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Testing, at least on a sample basis, is rapidly becoming a fundamental element in modern education systems, both because it is a necessary part of the process of designing, implementing, and evaluating programs to improve the quality of education and because countries around the world are increasingly testing all students, usually in selected school years. Up to now there has been little published information on the subject of the costs of testing, and none for Latin America. The purpose of this report is to provide preliminary estimates on the subject, based on information provided by Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Peru, and Uruguay. Each of these countries has followed its own set of criteria and definitions, and field work was not undertaken to confirm their estimates. In particular, overhead costs of managing a testing unit are not included. The data presented should therefore be considered indicative rather than definitive. Data were available on censal testing in Chile and Colombia; on sample tests in four of the five countries; and on the costs of participating in international (sample-based) tests in Chile, Colombia, and Peru.

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