System dynamics in educational assessment: an integrative review and conceptual framework for dynamic decision analytics in assessment systems

Educational assessment has evolved into a complex and interconnected system shaped by accountability demands, competency-based education, digital technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and learning analytics. Despite these developments, existing research remains fragmented, often emphasizing psychometric measurement, predictive analytics, feedback, or isolated assessment practices while providing limited explanation of how interactions, feedback processes, and institutional conditions influence assessment outcomes over time. This integrative review examined how System Dynamics and Decision Analytics can be integrated to understand and improve educational assessment systems. Guided by Whittemore and Knafl’s integrative review framework and reported in accordance with PRISMA 2020, the review synthesized 94 studies published between 2005 and 2026 and retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science. The synthesis demonstrated that educational assessment operates through interconnected relationships involving policy, curriculum, institutional resources, technology, faculty capacity, teaching, feedback, student learning, data, and decision-making. It further identified recursive feedback mechanisms linking assessment information to analytical interpretation, educational intervention, institutional performance, and system adaptation. Based on the synthesis, the study developed the Dynamic Decision Analytics Framework for Educational Assessment Systems (DDAF-EAS). The framework’s principal contribution is an assessment-to-adaptation architecture that connects assessment, educational data, decision analytics, evidence-informed action, outcomes, and feedback across learner, instructional, institutional, and policy levels. DDAF-EAS further provides diagnostic, dynamic, prospective, and adaptive analytical capabilities and generates propositions for future empirical testing and System Dynamics simulation. The framework provides a foundation for modelling, simulation, hybrid analytics, and evidence-informed decision-making, extending educational assessment toward adaptive and continuously improving systems. Not applicable.