The Norwegian Assessment System: An Accountability Perspective

The Norwegian Assessment System: An Accountability Perspective - Eyvind Elstad, Guri A. Nortvedt, Are Turmo During the last decade, the knowledge-based school as a "master idea" has developed in Norway, followed by the introduction of a wide range of test instruments for improving educational practice. The PISA shock in 2001, when it became public that Norwegian students only scored at the OECD average in core subject domains, has been an important catalyst in this transformation process. However, it would be wrong to say that the Norwegian school system at the national level has a fully-fledged accountability system and instruments for the promotion of accountability mechanisms. Furthermore, during recent years, the quality assessment system’s usefulness for accountability purposes has been significantly weakened. Still a main conclusion is that the Norwe- gian quality assessment system in education has unique features, although it is influenced by international trends.

Keywords:Accountability, assessment, Norway, national tests, international comparative studies

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Eyvind Elstad, Guri A. Nortvedt, Are Turmo, The Norwegian Assessment System: An Accountability Perspective in "CADMO" 2/2009, pp 89-103, DOI: 10.3280/CAD2009-002009