Quality of assessments within reach: Review study of research and results of the quality of assessments

Educational tests and assessments are important instruments to measure a student’s knowledge and skills. The question that is addressed in this review study is: “which aspects are currently considered as important to the quality of educational assessments?” Furthermore, it is explored how this information can be made available for both researchers and practitioners. Based on a systematic literature review, a conceptual framework was developed. The quality aspects in the framework were: reliability, generalizability, validity, the use of test and assessment results, and boundary conditions. The results were validated by focus groups. It was concluded that the different aspects of quality mentioned within articles were dependent on the authors’ perspective on assessments. Perspectives differ based on purposes of assessments, phase in the assessment process an article addressed, and whether the article was theoretically or practically oriented. Overall, results show that the quality aspect reliability is discussed most frequently.