This article provides an account of the origins and development of a system of National Curriculum assessment in England and Wales. It analyses government policy in this area and traces three main phases of system design and implementation. The evidence available from research about the effect of these changes is summarised as a prelude to discussion of the overall process of change. The author concludes by suggesting six questions that would be worth revisiting in the course of the impending review of the National Curriculum and its associated assessment arrangement.
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