The inclusion of social, emotional, and intercultural competences (SEI) in academic contexts has been supported by international organizations, such as the European Union, the United Nations, and the OECD, since the early 2000s. However, little information is yet available regarding the assessment of these competences. This paper shares the findings of a systematic literature review that produced an inventory of existing tools for the assessment of SEI competences of students and school staff. This is the first time assessment tools for these three competences have been concurrently reviewed. An interdisciplinary and international research team conducted this systematic literature review in the databases of ERIC, PsycInfo, PSYNDEX, Scopus, and Web of Science. Out of 13,963 articles, 149 assessment tools were examined and processed. In addition to the instrument analysis and a detailed description of the procedure, this article shows the basic theoretical concepts, as well as the limitations, of such a review. It was found that 1) the majority of the discovered instruments rely on self-reported survey and inventory data, 2) of the three competences, intercultural competence had the fewest relevant instruments, and 3) very few tools have been created to assess all three competences together. From this review, it is apparent that a wider variety of assessment tools (other than self-reports), as well as more comprehensive tools (e.g. qualitative analysis of vignettes) for the assessment of all three SEI competences, should be developed to meet international demand. The results of the literature review are available and freely accessible in the form of an assessment catalogue.

In 2015, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) introduced multiple changes in its study design, the most extensive being the transition from paper-to computer-based assessment. We investigated the differences between German students' text responses to eight reading items from the paper-based study in 2012 to text responses to the same items from the computer-based study in 2015. Two response featuresinformation quantity and relevance proportionwere extracted by natural language processing techniques because they are crucial indicators for the response process. Showcasing potential differential relationships, we additionally examined gender differences. Modelling effects of the round of assessment, gender, and response correctness on the response features, we analysed responses from 15-year-olds and ninth-graders in Germany. Results revealed differences in the text responses between the rounds of assessment in that students included more information overall in 2015, and the proportions of relevance varied substantially across items. As the study investigated the mode change in PISA's natural (not experimental) setting, the differences could mirror cohort trends or design changes. However, with the evidence reported, we conclude that the differences could indicate mode effects. KEYWORDS Computer-based assessment; paper-based assessment; open-ended text responses; mode effect; automatic processing CONTACT Fabian Zehner