The chief concern of this paper is when and how to use standardised assessments in a
schooling system to improve the quality of learning and teaching. The arguments made in the
literature on this topic are intense and positions often seem irreconcilable. Positions are
clearly informed by ideology but, less obviously, also by context, specifically regional and
historical factors including recent experiences with standardised tests. A key contribution of
this paper is a mapping of positions taken by analysts with respect to standardised testing
against the context in which the analyst argues. It is expected that such a mapping can assist
in the policy debates on the degree and type of standardised assessment to have within a
specific context. The limited evidence available for or against the effectiveness of different
forms of standardised assessment in different contexts receives attention. The academic
literature in English from developed countries is considered, but also the grey literature and
literature (some of it non-English) from developing countries, including African and Latin
American ones.