4.4 Impact
Assessment has important effects and consequences within the educational system and
within society more widely. These effects are referred to as impact. Test takers in particular
are affected because the results of tests are used to make important decisions about them
which can affect their lives.
At Cambridge English Language Assessment we adopt the principle of impact by design. We
strive to achieve positive impact in the contexts in which our assessments are used and we
undertake to investigate this through our validation processes. In promoting positive effects
on curricula and learning, we seek to design and develop test features that are consistent
with those found in instructional programmes. To implement this principle and to integrate
an action-oriented approach to investigating impact into the working practices of our
organisation, we adhere to the following maxims of test impact: