The defensibility of national curriculum assessment in England

In a series of recent papers, Dylan Wiliam has criticized national curriculum testing in England, on grounds of validity and reliability, and has expressed concern that formative assessment aims have been seriously neglected. He has argued that these problems can be overcome, but only through an alternative model in which the summative function is radically reconceived and divorced from the evaluative function.Wiliam's model is reviewed and evaluated and implications for further research and debate are drawn out; alternative approaches are also suggested.