This thesis deals with the assessment of school texts by students in Swedish upper-secondary school or in the corresponding adult education and concentrates on what differs between the grades Pass and Fail. The 60 texts used in the survey come from the 1997 archives of the national test construction group. A questionnaire to teachers asks what criteria are most important when distinguishing between Pass and Fail. The five criteria pointed out are Holistic scoring, Relevant content, The connecting thought, Sentence structure and How the student has followed the instructions. The most salient result regarding grades is the difference between grades from the students’ own teachers and from the independent assessors. Ten texts have received a Fail from the student’s own teacher, but as many as 35 get an average Fail from three assessors. There is variation in assessment, but 18 Fail texts and 18 Pass texts get a unanimous grade. Quantitative analyses of the 60 texts show a definite correlation between grade and number of words. However, the Fail-groups among narrative, expository and argumentative texts contain both the shortest and the longest texts. School texts are longer now than thirty years ago, especially texts with low grades. Sentences and words have become shorter. Coherence is investigated by a method of reference cohesion. No clear difference between Pass and Fail texts can be found, but between types of essay topics. Also important is the organization of the text and its paragraphs, a factor which separates Fail and Pass texts. Various aspects of sentence structure show better results in the Pass texts. The thesis is concluded with a commentary on the demands of the last compulsory course in Swedish. The needed level is argued to be the ability to write for an unknown reader.

Hur policyförändringar, som fler nationella prov och tidigare betyg, kan komma till uttryck i verksamheten utforskas i denna studie. Syftet är att undersöka hur några elever i läs- och skrivsvårigheter/dyslexi beskriver sina erfarenheter av att göra nationella läsprov i svenska i årskurs 6. Det empiriska materialet har inhämtats genom halvstrukturerade intervjuer med fyra elever i årskurs 6, som nyligen har genomfört proven. Resultatet, som har analyserats ur ett policy enactment perspektiv, visar att eleverna beskriver proven som mycket viktiga, då de tror att proven har en stor betydelse för deras betyg i svenska. Eleverna har förberetts inför proven i skolan genom undervisning i läsförståelsestrategier, genom att öva på gamla prov och genom att titta på bedömningsexempel. De har också förberett sig själva inför provsituationen på olika sätt. Eleverna har olika erfarenheter av anpassningar vid proven och de som har haft anpassningar ställer sig positiva till det. Eleverna upplevde stress och nervositet i varierande grad, främst innan proven. Skilda specialpedagogiska perspektiv framträder i hur skolor hanterar frågor om förberedelser och anpassningar av de nationella proven. Hur lärare och elever tolkar policy får betydelse för eleverna i samband proven. / How changes in policy, as more national tests and earlier grades, can be expressed in school settings are explored in this study. The aim is to examine how some students in reading and writing difficulties/dyslexia describe their experiences of doing national reading tests in Swedish in Grade 6. The empirical material has been collected through semi-structured interviews with four students in Grade 6, who recently have conducted the tests. The results have been analyzed from a policy enactment perspective and show that students describe the tests as very important, since they believe that the tests have a significant impact on their grades in Swedish. Students have been prepared for the tests in school by teaching of reading comprehension strategies, by practicing on old tests and by looking at assessment examples. Students have also prepared themselves for the test situation in different ways. They have different experiences regarding adjustments during the tests and the students who have had adjustments express positive feelings about them. The students experienced stress and anxiety in varying degrees, mostly before the tests. Separate perspectives of special education emerge in how schools deal with issues as preparation and adjustments of the national tests. How teachers and students interpret policy seems to be an important factor in students’ situations associated to the tests.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka och följa matematiklärares resonemang kring ämnesplanens förmågor, genom problematisering av nationella provuppgifter.   Matematikundervisningen både på grundskolan och gymnasiet har visat sig vara begränsad när det gäller målstyrning av undervisningen som bygger på medvetenhet och kunskap om förmågorna. En förutsättning för att undervisningen ska kunna vara målstyrd med avseende på förmågorna ser vi är lärares kunskap och medvetenhet om desamma. Avsikten med studien är därför att ur ett utvecklingsperspektiv hitta sätt att för lärare ge ämnesplanens förmågor innebörd. De nationella proven konkretiserar flera av förmågorna, och skulle därför kunna fungera som vägledare i lärares kompetensutveckling kring förmågornas innebörd.  Undersökningen baseras på två filmade fokusgruppsdiskussioner i vilka gymnasielärare i matematik deltar. Diskussionerna utgår från nationella provuppgifter i matematik, med stegvis introducering av skolverkets definitioner av förmågorna och senare också av skolverkets bedömning av desamma.  Studiens teoretiska ramverk utgörs av ett kollegialt lärandeperspektiv och ett multimodalt och socialsemiotiskt perspektiv, som också används i den kvalitativa videoanalysen.   Studien visar att lärarnas resonemang förändras under diskussionen utan Skolverkets definitioner, så till vida att en slags överenskommelse görs, av på vilket sätt förmågorna kan tolkas. Skolverkets definitioner visade sig ha marginell inverkan på resonemangets utveckling i riktning mot Skolverkets intentioner. Skolverkets bedömning tillsammans med definitionerna fungerade däremot som utmanare till lärarnas egen tolkning och skapade genom det ett ökat resonemang. Resonemanget visade dock inte på ökad kunskap och medvetenhet kring förmågornas innebörd, som är förenligt med Skolverkets intentioner. Med stöd av forskning kring kollegialt lärande, skulle ledning av expertis på området kunnat möjliggöra ett resonemang i riktning mot intentionerna. / The aim of this study is to investigate and to monitor teachers of mathematics when they reason on the abilities as expressed in the curriculum, through problematisation of Swedish national test questions.   Teaching mathematics in Sweden has shown itself to be limited when it comes to setting objectives when based on awareness and knowledge of the abilities. One condition for the teaching to be manageable is that the teachers are aware of the abilities. The intention of this study is to find a way for the teachers through a perspective of development, where the abilities are given meaning. The national tests define many of the abilities and therefore the tests could be a guide in the teachers’ development of the reasoning of the abilities.   The investigation is based on two videotaped focus discussions by high school teachers of mathematics. These discussions are based on national test questions, where the teachers are gradually introduced to the national educational agency’s (henceforth Skolverket) definitions of the abilities and assessments that are given by Skolverket. The theoretical framework of the study is based on collegial teaching perspective and a multimodal- and social semiotic perspective, which is also being used in the qualitative video analysis.   The study shows that the teachers’ reasoning changes during the discussions without Skolverket’s definitions, and the teachers reach a consensus on how the abilities should be interpreted. Skolverket’s definitions had only marginal effects on the teachers’ reasoning regarding the intentions of the abilities. However, the teachers’ interpretations were challenged by the assessments which resulted in an increase in the teachers’ reasoning and interpretations. But the outcome of the study has not given any convincing evidence that an actual increase in knowledge nor awareness of the abilities has occurred. According to research into collegial learning, experts in this field would have been able to support more developed reasoning in line with the intentions.

This essays aim is to examine the different reading process categories tested in PISA's survey as well as the national test in Swedish and how it is tested. Furthermore, the aim is to compare it with the skills and knowledge regarding reading required in the syllabus and the reading process categories that are included in the knowledge requirements. Three questions have been asked: Which reading process categories are tested in PISA's reading comprehension and how are they tested? Which reading process categories are tested in the national exam in reading comprehension for grade 9 and how are they tested? What knowledge and skills regarding reading is required in the syllabus and which reading process categories are visible in the knowledge requirements for Swedish subjects in Lgr11 for years 7-9? To answer these questions, a qualitative and quantitative content analysis has been made and the theoretical point for the essay is PISA's reading framework on reading process categories. The result shows that all three reading process categories are present in both the PISA survey, the national exam and the curriculum from 2011 for the compulsory school, preschool class and the recreation center’s knowledge requirements for the subject Swedish. The analysis also reveals that there are some similarities and differences between the PISA survey of 2009 and the national exam from 2012/2013. Such a similarity is that "integrate and interpret" is the reading process category that gets the largest space in both the PISA survey and the national test. Regarding the syllabus "reflect and evaluate" is the most appearing reading process category.

By combining qualitative and quantitative methods, this study investigates which writing tasks Swedish as a second language teachers use in their teaching of the different school-related text types, how they justify their choices and adaptations of the writing task, and whether any connections can be seen to the national tests in Swedish as a second language writing tasks. The material used is survey responses and previous national tests whose results are then analysed through theories, such as genre pedagogy and Ivanic writing discourses to answer these questions. Previous research shows how factors such as writing task design and real readers can contribute to writing development in students. Previous research also shows how to work with text types in a language development way and how writing instruction is influenced by teachers' writing discourses. This paper shows from the survey responses that a trend among writing tasks in the different text types can be seen and how 8 out of 10 can be linked to previous national tests in Swedish as a second language. The results show that the teachers' reasons for their choice of writing tasks could be linked to previous national tests, to their suitability in writing the text type and the teacher's writing discourse. The teachers' adaptations of the writing tasks have been more about their way of working than the design of the writing task, but adaptations such as simplified language and adapted language have been mentioned. These results are important because they indicate how established genre pedagogy and its circular model have become in Swedish as a second language teaching and how much influence the national test in Swedish as a second language has on the teachers' choice of writing tasks in the different text types.

The purpose of this project was to find out what varieties of English that Swedish upper secondary school students are exposed to in the classroom and to what extent they are exposed to different varieties. This was conducted by looking at preparation exercises for the listening part of the Swedish National Tests. These exercises are created by Göteborgs Universitet and are available online for everyone and show how the real national test will be done. By listening and analyzing every speaker’s variety they were sorted into British, American, Mid-Atlantic, Australian or New Zealand varieties. A total of 91 speakers were analyzed and the results showed that Students are exposed to mostly British English with half of the speakers using a British variety. One fourth of the speakers used American English while the rest were divided into Mid-Atlantic, Australian or New Zealand varieties.