For 12 years now, I have been examining the psycho-social effects of different forms of assessment and reporting on students in middle school setting. The main differences seem to be between an A to E model where results are described as comparison against normative or generic performance, and a continuum model where results are described as movement through a static set of age or developmental standards such as reading levels.
Most of my observations center around perceptions of success and failure by students, teachers and the wider community, and have links with psychological research into efficacy and resilience.