The issue of tests and testing has recently become the subject of public debate in New South Wales. This issue is of course not new, and has been the subject of much controversy, particularly in the United States, over the last thirty years or more.

In New South Wales the issue has surfaced over the use of standardized tests of general ability in the last year of primary schooling. These tests are applied routinely in State schools to all students in Year 6 as part of the normal school assessment program. The purpose of the testing, as stated by the Department, is to obtain a measure of the student's general reasoning ability to supplement other information on the student's school attainments. This information, it is argued, can be used by the class teacher or the resource teacher to plan appropriate teaching programs for individual children, and to identify children who may have special needs, or who should be referred to the school counsellor for further individual assessment.