Educational systems in euorpean countries are increasingly evaluated with external standardized tests (Mons, 2007). These tests are not created by the teacher for his class, but by someone extern, mostly by the scholar administrations. Standardized external tests are administered and scored under the same conditions and at the same time for all pupils of the same grade. This operation is set up by the education authorities to achieve two principal goals: regulation and harmonization of learning programs and teaching practices; directing and supervising the public school system (Kellaghan & Greaney 2001; Mons, 2009). Therefore the whole system is evaluated, not only the pupils. Standardized tests exist in different forms and characteristics depending on the context and their objectives. The stakes are not the same for every test, whether for pupils or teachers. They could be high or low-stakes tests (Johnson, 2007).

External standardized testing creates scientific debates. Educational research has demonstrated the benefits of standardized testing (e.g. information, equality and objectivity), but also revealed disadvantages for school systems (e.g. burden of testing, stress and demotivation of pupil and teacher, grade inflation, strong accountability) (Abrams & Madaus, 2003; Cizek, 2001; Haney, 2000; Monseur & Demeuse, 2005). Standardized tests have also some proven effects, which are not always intended or desirable, on teachers’ teaching and assessment practices. It can be positive (e.g. regulation of practices, improvement of teachers) and negative effects (e.g. teaching to the test, narrowing of curriculum, pedagogical contradiction) (Amrein & Berliner, 2002; Jones, 2007; McMillan, 2005; Shepard, 2002). Studies abound on this topic, especially in American context, nevertheless research gives these effects as an exhaustive list but do seldom explore the origins and differences of these effects, depending on teachers’ and tests’ characteristics. Only a few studies in the field of applied linguistic discuss the relation between effects of language standardized tests and the teachers’ and students’ beliefs (Alison, 2005; Mizutani, 2009), but none in the field of general education.

Following qualitative exploratory researches (Yerly, 2011 and 2012), the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of external standardized testing on teachers’ practices, especially teachers’ assessment practices. What effects does external standardized testing have on primary teachers’ assessment practices? How do these effects work? Which teacher’s and tests’ factors do influence these effects?

This study explores the perceived effects of external standardized tests in Swiss primary school context (4th to 8th grade; pupils = 6 to 12 years old). Fribourg, an administrative region of Switzerland, has been chosen for its 2 different external standardized tests in its primary school program.
-    “Reference test”: used in 4th and 6th year to inform teachers of their pupils performance =  low-stake test
-    “PPO test”: used in 8th grade to select pupils for 3 secondary school levels = high-stakes test

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