Rethinking large-scale assessments and the purpose of education; special issue

The articles in this issue are largely the result of the first Education Frontiers Forum held on the campus of East China Normal University in October 2018. The theme of the forum was Large-Scale Assessment (LSA): Problems and Prospects. The purpose of the forum was not to discuss the technical issues of LSAs or assessment. Instead, it was to debate and discuss the use (or misuse) of LSAs, the role of LSAs in education, and the capacity and the limitations of LSAs to assess what matters in education at a philosophical level.