Salhberg (2011) pointed out that the competition and accountability movement were important characteristics in the Global Education Reform Movement. Outcomes-based education reforms in 1980s and standards-based education initially within Anglo-Saxon countries in 1990s shifted the focus to educational outcomes. Since PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) organized by OECD began in 2000, it raises OECD countries’ attention for it is regarded as a global measurement to benchmark the nation’s student achievement at the end of compulsory education. As a crucial factor of teacher performance assessment in some countries around the world, students’ grades in tests inevitably have influence on teachers’ occupational stress.

Teacher stress may be defined as the experience by a teacher of unpleasant, negative emotions resulting from some aspect of their work as a teacher (Kyriacou, 2001). Compared with stress of other occupations, stress for tests is a unique one for teachers. In recent years, some researches indicated that stress for tests was an important factor to occupational stress of primary and secondary teachers in China (Xu, 2003; Tang, 2007; Yuan, 2009; Gao & Zhang, 2009). However, it is not a unique feature of education in China. For example, Goldberg, a primary school teacher in New York, expressed that she had pressure for the state academic test (Jiang, 2012). So research in teachers’ stress for tests is of significance. Our research questions are what relationships exist between teachers’ occupational value and stress for tests, and how professional learning community, or simply PLC, takes effects on the relationships.

Song (2011) found that during the curriculum reform in China, performance-based accountability including grades of standardized tests for students brought teachers increasing stress. With support and share of responsibilities from the PLC, teachers’ stress lessened. So it can be assumed that some aspects of the PLC play as mediator or moderator between teachers’ occupational values and stress for tests.

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