In the Netherlands, teacher advice (based on standardized tests)is the way. They really restrict practice for the test in multiple ways, some legal and some cultural.
Interestingly, the Netherlands tried it a few years without the results of the standardised tests being known to the teacher (the results came in after they'd given their advice). It turned out that children from a poor background started getting worse recommendations...
As a result that practice has been reversed and teachers now use the result from the standardised test again when making their recommendation.
