The use and influence of large scale tests (LST), both national and international, has increased dramatically within the last decade. This process has revealed a tension between the legitimate need for information about the performance of the educational system and teachers to inform policy, and the teachers’ and students’ use of this information for pedagogical purposes in the classroom. We know well how the policy makers interpret and use the outcomes of such tests, but we know less about how teachers make use of LSTs to inform their pedagogical practice. An important question is whether there is a contradiction between the political system’s use of LST and teachers’ (possible) pedagogical use of LST. And if yes: What is a contradiction based on? This presentation will give some results from a systematic review on how tests have influenced the pedagogical practice. The research revealed many of the fatal wash back effects known from other research but gave additionally some insight in teachers’ attitudes towards LSTs. To account for these findings results from another research project - the Validation of PISA – will be included. This project analyzed how PISA has influenced the Danish educational system and the different theoretical foundations of PISA and most teachers’ pedagogically oriented, formative assessment, thus explaining the teacher resentment towards LSTs. Finally, some principles for linking LSTs to teachers’ pedagogical practice will be presented.