Consequences of Introducing Educational Testing in Northern Ireland, 1973-1977

This dataset includes test scores for over 40,000 students in 175 Irish primary schools that were selected and randomly assigned to a variety of testing treatments as part of a four-year study. The goal of this research effort was to assess the effects of standardized tests and test results on teachers, students, and parents, as well as on school policy. Northern Ireland was chosen because of its developed educational system (in which the English language is used) and its prior lack of standardized testing. During the course of this study, three main testing treatments were implemented in all classrooms in each primary school: (1) no testing was done, (2) norm referenced ability and attainment testing was done in basic curricular areas (English, Irish, and mathematics), but pupil performance data were not returned to the teachers, and (3) norm referenced ability and attainment testing was done, and pupils' raw scores, percentiles, and standard scores were returned to teachers. This dataset contains the norm referenced test scores gathered over the course of the four-year study for each of eight primary age-group cohorts. Parts 1-6 contain scores from students who were in grades 1-6, respectively, during the first year of the study. Part 7 contains scores from students who were in grade 2 in the fourth (last) year of the study, and Part 8 contains the scores from students who were in grade 3 during the last year of the study. Background variables for each student (e.g., treatment group, school type, sex served by school, location of school, size of school, type of administration of school, school identification number, and student's sex) are also included.