student performance focusing on standardized testing, teacher specialization, and political environments. Chapter 1 motivates …-performing countries. In contrast, only internal testing without external comparison and internal teacher monitoring including …

solely internal testing and internal teacher monitoring including inspectorates does not affect student achievement. Our … findings point out the pitfalls of overly broad generalizations from specific country testing systems. …

internal testing and internal teacher monitoring including inspectorates does not affect student achievement. Our findings … point out the pitfalls of overly broad generalizations from specific country testing systems. …

achievement. The effect of school-based comparison is stronger in low-performing countries. By contrast, solely internal testing …

redeeming impact on educational performance. Others see early testing of children as a necessary instrument for identifying … children. In practice, there is large crosscountry variation in testing regimes. We exploit random variation in test-taking in … mathematics among early primary school children in Norway, a low testing environment. We examine two forms of testing, complex but …