Christina Wikström

Grade stability in a criterion‐referenced grading system: the Swedish example

This study investigates empirically the mechanisms behind the increasing grade point averages in Swedish upper secondary schools. Four hypotheses are presented as plausible explanations; improved student achievements, student selection effects, strategic behaviour in course choices, and lowering of grading standards. The analysis is based on extensive data, and focuses on grades and test scores from upper secondary school graduates over a 6‐year period. The result shows that the increase in grade point averages cannot be explained by better achievements, selection effects or course choices, which means that standards have been lowered, which is interpreted here as grade inflation. The grade inflation is most likely an effect of the leniency in the grading system in combination with pressure for high grading, related to the upper secondary school grades’ function as an instrument for selection to higher education.

The Concept of Validity in Theory and Practice.

The concept of validity, as described in the literature, has changed over time to become a broad and rather complex issue. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if practice has followed theory, or if there is a gap between validity in theory and validity in practice. It compares the theoretical development of the concept of validity with the methodology adopted in validity studies over time. Important phases in the history of validity, and also common arguments for and against traditional and modern validity perspectives, are presented and discussed. Thereafter, three Swedish research projects aiming to validate instruments used for selection to higher education are described. The idea is to use these projects as examples of contemporary practice, and to compare their designs, research questions and outcomes with how validity was theoretically described during their specific period of time. The conclusions from these comparisons are that practices seem to have followed theory when it comes to how the validity research programmes have been designed, but not when it comes to how they then were carried out in practice. This gap between theory and practice seems to have increased with the introduction of broader and more modern validity perspectives. The scope of the research is more extensive but results are fragmented and there is no evidence of a ‘unified’ validity argument, which has been one of the central aspects in modern validity theory. This supports the arguments that validity theory is difficult to put into practice and that there is a need for guidance on how to prioritise validity questions and interpret validity evidence.

Education and assessment in Sweden

Education and assessment in Swedish schools have been affected by several reforms during the last two decades. The educational system has moved from centralization to decentralization and a goal‐oriented approach has been introduced on all educational levels. This paper provides an historical overview of the Swedish educational system, educational and assessment policies and principles, to explain why and how the reforms have been carried out. This is followed by a discussion on the effects and consequences of recent reforms, based on findings in recent education and assessment research.

The concept of accountability in education: Does the Swedish school system apply?

The Concept of Accountability in Education: Does the Swedish School System Apply? - Recent years have seen a growing international debate over accountability in education, and particularly the consequences of such systems. The Swedish school system seems to share many common features with systems in countries where the accountability debate is strong. Still, in Sweden there has been limited discussion and no attention paid to the international debate. The present paper explores whether Sweden can be said to have a standards-based accountability system or not, by comparing the Swedish system with a standards- based accountability model. The conclusion is that the Swedish national assessment system may not be an accountability system in the narrower sense, but that issues of accountability are nevertheless prevalent in current discussions about the successes and failures of Swedish educational policy and practice. It is found the in-explicitness of the system is a threat to validity as assessment instruments may be used and interpreted in ways they were not intended to, with unintended consequences as a result. Keywords: Accountability, assessment, goals, consequences, compulsory education.

Policy and Practice in Swedish Education, Assessment, and School Leadership

In recent years, the Swedish school system has been subject to a number of reforms. These reforms have mainly been focused on decentralization and educational goals and have resulted in many changes for the schools and people in the system. Among other things, the responsibility for schools was moved from the state to municipalities. The “free school reform” and the introduction of a voucher system put the schools in the market and introduced competition on many levels. National steering documents would ensure common goals and comparability in terms of educational content. The idea was to give the professionals within the system, i.e., school leaders and teachers, the freedom to decide how to reach the goals, while using the open market to “weed out” unsuccessful schools.

National curriculum assessment in England – a Swedish perspective

It is with great interest I have read the articles discussing the English national curriculum assessment system in England from different perspectives. I will here discuss some of issues that I find especially interesting from a Swedish perspective, and also make some comparisons between the systems. The English and Swedish education and assessment systems have some fundamental differences, but also similarities. Some are becoming even more evident after learning about the characteristics and consequences of the national curriculum assessment system, and comparing them with current events in education in Sweden. On the surface, the two systems may seem rather diverse. As opposed to England, Sweden has had a long tradition of a strongly regulated and centralised system, which has influenced both education and assessment in different ways. However, since the end of the 1980s, both the English and the Swedish systems have been subjects to a number of reforms affecting education and assessment on all levels. The English system has moved towards centralisation and increased regulation, while the Swedish system has become decentralised and de-regulated, as effects of a general marketand consumer orientation (Wikström 2006). But even though it may seem as if the English and Swedish systems have almost switched positions when it comes to how the systems are governed, the reforms have also made the systems quite alike. Both countries introduced a new national curriculum about the same time (Sweden a few years later than England), and a standards-based national assessment system linked to this curriculum, with goals and standards constituting the cores of the system, and with a stronger focus on monitoring school performance. The move towards national standards and criterion-referenced assessment systems is an international trend in educational policy that started many years ago, and fits well with an increased focus on goal-orientation and monitoring performance in society in general. During both the English and Swedish reform periods, the importance of having national standards was emphasised, and also the responsibilities for the schools to make sure that standards were met. National curriculum tests were introduced as instruments for assessing the students’ achievement and progress connected to these national standards and goals, but also for monitoring school performance.

The reliability and validity of the grade point average as instrument for selection to higher education

After an educational reform in the 1990s, all upper secondary programs in Sweden, irrespective of their orientation, are to give students the basic requirements for higher education eligibility. Th ...

Group Differences in Student Performance in the Selection to Higher Education: Tests vs Grades

Student selection in the Swedish admission to higher education system is based on two fundamentally different performance measures: their criterion-referenced upper secondary grade point average (GPA) or their score on a norm-referenced and multiple-choice admissions test (SweSAT). Several student characteristics are known to affect rankings in such assessments. The objectives of this study are to assess main and interactive effects of several variables that influence rankings obtained from these measures in greater detail than previously attempted, and assess the findings from a fairness perspective. The data consist of test scores, upper secondary grades and background information for SweSAT participants, aged 19 to 25 years, who took the test in the autumn of 2011 (N=23,214) or spring of 2012 (N= 27,075). The data were analysed through correlation and regression analysis. The results support previous findings that gender, parents’ education, and immigration status are all influential. Males obtain better SweSAT scores than females while females obtain better GPAs, in accordance with previous findings regarding gender-related variations in rankings provided by similar instruments. Moreover, we found the same pattern in scores for specific components of the test and grades in specific subjects, suggesting that the test and GPA measure different, gender-related, things. In addition, students with an immigrant background seem to be more highly ranked by grades than by the SweSAT, largely due to differences in assessments of their verbal skills. □