ABSTRACT
The assessment and evaluation practices in China have undergone systematic reforms to level with the nation’s educational development. The two most important aspects of the more recent tide of reform are addressed here: First, entrance exams at various levels start to offer more diversified ways to measure students’ achievement and their “comprehensive quality”. Second, great efforts have been exerted to establish national and regional education quality monitoring systems that do not rely on high-stakes test scores. Technically, IRT modeling techniques become more widely accepted in both entrance exams and education quality monitoring tests. Politically, measurement practices are no longer controlled solely by government agencies. Third-party organizations have become very active in providing testing services to local governments, schools, teachers, and students. Although there are many challenges to building satisfactory metrics for measuring student achievement and educational development, slow but steady improvements can be expected.
