This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Julie Amador, Christie Blazer, Tiffany Jefferson, Gail L. Thompson, Phil Wood, Todd Ruecker, Kenneth E. Vogler, Angela Friend, Melody Zoch, and Suzanne Rice.
(2013). High-Stakes Testing and Latina/o Students: Creating a Hierarchy of College Readiness, Journal of Hispanic Higher Education. This article examines how high-stakes testing policies can constrain the way teachers at predominately Latina/o high schools teach literacy and subsequently influence the success of Latina/o students at college. It is based on a year and a half study of seven Latina/o students making transition from a high school to a community college or university on the U.S.-Mexico border. [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, College Preparation, Hispanic American Students, Literacy Education
(2015). Using Retrieval Practice and Metacognitive Skills to Improve Content Learning, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Classroom tests have been traditionally used to assess student growth and content mastery. However, a wealth of research in cognitive and educational psychology has demonstrated that retrieval practice (testing) as a form of low-stakes, rather than traditional high-stakes testing, can also be used as an effective pedagogical tool, improving long-term learning, reading comprehension, and metacognition. So, as teachers plan formative assessments to measure their students' learning, why not design those assessments as retrieval practice activities that simultaneously improve students' learning as well as assessing it? This article provides recommendations for how teachers can implement retrieval practice in the classroom to assess and optimize content learning. [More] Descriptors: Metacognition, Course Content, Formative Evaluation, Learning Processes
(2013). Markets, Managerialism and Teachers' Work: The Invisible Hand of High Stakes Testing in England, International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives. High stakes testing has been long established in the English school system. In this article, we seek to demonstrate how testing has become pivotal to securing the neo-liberal restructuring of schools, that commenced during the Thatcher era, and is reaching a critical point at the current time. Central to this project has been the need to assert increased control over teachers' work and this is being achieved through a pincer movement of marketisation and managerialism. Both of these "policy technologies" require the value of individual teachers' work to be measured and quantified, and in this article we seek to demonstrate how high stakes testing underpins these processes. The article concludes by making the case for reclaiming teaching as a professional process, within the context of education, as a public good and conducted in a public space. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, High Stakes Tests, School Restructuring, Neoliberalism
(2011). Unintended Consequences of High-Stakes Testing. Information Capsule. Volume 1008, Research Services, Miami-Dade County Public Schools. High-stakes testing is one of the most controversial issues in American education. Advocates contend that these tests encourage students to work harder, provide teachers with a stronger understanding of students' strengths and weaknesses, and allow educators to target failing schools for extra help. Critics claim that they narrow and distort the curriculum, hold students and teachers with inequitable resources to the same standards, and solidify class and ethnic disparities. This Information Capsule reviews research conducted on the unintended consequences of high-stakes testing programs, such as narrowing of the curriculum, higher levels of student test anxiety, and increased pressure on teachers. In addition, high-stakes tests have been found to have a disproportionately negative impact on low-performing, low-income, and minority students. Although the majority of unintended consequences are negative, researchers have found that high-stakes tests have some positive effects on education, including increased teacher professional development, better alignment of instruction with state content standards, more effective remediation programs for low-achieving students, and increased use of data to inform instruction. The research is mixed on the impact of high-stakes testing on dropout rates, students' levels of academic achievement and motivation, and on the consequences of publishing test scores. This report also includes a brief review of studies that have examined the full costs of high-stakes testing. [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Program Effectiveness, Dropout Rate, Testing Programs
(2016). Team Teaching among Mixed Messages: Implementing Two-Way Dual Language Bilingual Education at Third Grade in Texas, Language Policy. This article documents and interrogates top-down district-wide implementation of a two-way dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program in a large urban district. We carried out a language policy ethnography to explore the way two schools' teams of third grade teachers worked together to negotiate the intersection of DLBE implementation and high stakes accountability pressures. There appears to be inherent tension between preparing children for monolingual standardized tests, and meeting DLBE program goals of bilingualism, biliteracy, high academic achievement and cross-cultural competence. The pressure to prepare children for high-stakes testing ultimately led to the dismantling of the DLBE program in both schools. Lack of training, insufficient materials and conflicting curricular mandates were further obstacles at both schools. There were important contextual differences, however; in one school, teacher agency and collaboration led to far more enriched educational experiences for children, while in the other rote test preparation took over. We recommend investment in teacher professional development and teacher agency. Ultimately, for DLBE programs to succeed, high stakes testing must give way to multiple-measure accountability that matches language program goals. [More] Descriptors: Team Teaching, Language Planning, Teacher Collaboration, Faculty Development
(2015). Growing the Good Stuff: One Literacy Coach's Approach to Support Teachers with High-Stakes Testing, Journal of Literacy Research. This ethnographic study reports on one elementary literacy coach's response to high-stakes testing and her approach to support third- through fifth-grade teachers in a Title I school in Texas. Sources of data included field notes and observations of classes and meetings, audio/video recordings, and transcribed interviews. The findings illustrate how the literacy coach used her knowledge and beliefs about teaching reading along with her position of leadership to craft alternative responses to an environment that endorsed a skills-based approach to teaching reading and placed a strong emphasis on test preparation. Specifically, the literacy coach enriched the skills-based reading curriculum with reading workshop, supported teachers' learning and growth with teacher-centered inquiry groups, and focused on language and authentic literature as a way of preparing students for the test. These findings suggest that the literacy coach played an important role in supporting teachers with negotiating the demands of a high-stakes testing environment and in ways that did not necessarily compromise the literacy coach's beliefs. These findings also suggest the importance of a supportive school environment where teachers have a sense of community for support and professional growth. [More] Descriptors: Coaching (Performance), Literacy, High Stakes Tests, Elementary School Teachers
(2012). Four Effects of the High-Stakes Testing Movement on African American K-12 Students, Journal of Negro Education. In order to ensure that American students are competitive with students in other countries, since the 1980s, U.S. policymakers have been trying to improve the K-12 public school system. Recent reform efforts have led to the current high-stakes testing movement, which measures student achievement and school effectiveness mainly by standardized test scores. In this article, the authors explain how the current high-stakes testing movement has harmed African American students through (1) instructional practices that have not resulted in widespread higher test scores; (2) increasing student apathy; (3) more punitive discipline policies and pushing more youth into the prison pipeline, and also by (4) creating a narcissistic education system that strives to make schools "look good," even if students are not really learning information that will help them improve the quality of their lives. The authors conclude with recommendations that can improve the schooling experiences of African American youth. [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, School Effectiveness, Teaching Methods, African American Students
(2016). Moving Children, Distorting Data: Changes in Testing of Students with Disabilities in Connecticut from 2000-2013, Teachers College Record. Connecticut experienced two major changes in testing policy for children with disabilities that played a major role in conclusions about educational progress in the state. First, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 required that all students with disabilities participate in grade-level, standardized tests. This movement of students deepened a crisis of stagnant and disparate achievement indicators. Policy reversed in 2007, when the federal Department of Education opened the door for modified assessments based on grade-level content and standards. When testing policy reversed, the exclusion of students with disabilities temporarily resolved this crisis by artificially inflating test results in math and reading. This chapter provides an overview of testing data from the Connecticut State Department of Education within its historical context. These fluctuations in standard test participation often linked closely with overall results and produced misinterpretations of educational and racial progress over time. Responses to these changes in testing policy make Connecticut an illuminating case regarding the problem of high-stakes testing and changes in policies for students with disabilities in a particular state characterized by deep racial and economic inequity. Rather than raising questions, moving children helped reinforce the legitimacy of high-stakes testing and nationally touted educational reforms. [More] Descriptors: Disabilities, Data Collection, Student Evaluation, Standardized Tests
(2016). Student Experiences of High-Stakes Testing for Progression in One Undergraduate Nursing Program, ProQuest LLC. High-stakes testing in undergraduate nursing education are those assessments used to make critical decisions for student progression and graduation. The purpose of this study was to explore the different ways students experience multiple high-stakes tests for progression in one undergraduate BSN program. Research participants were prelicensure senior baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in their final semester of the nursing program. A descriptive qualitative design, using the framework of phenomenography, captured the various ways a group of prelicensure BSN students described their experiences with multiple high-stakes to progress throughout the nursing program towards graduation. Phenomenography is designed to examine the various ways in which a group individuals experience or perceive the same phenomenon. Analysis revealed five major categories of descriptions, including values, stress, inconsistency, high demand/expectations, and transfer of learning. Each category included various sub-categories. The findings provided a rich understanding of the student's point of view of high-stakes tests that is lacking in the nursing education literature. In addition, the results were used to develop a structure of learning model as a useful tool to guide nursing faculty in developing program-specific strategies that promote student success with high-stakes testing throughout nursing curricula. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta… [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Undergraduate Students, Nursing Education, Qualitative Research
(2007). "Just the Facts, Ma'am": Teaching Social Studies in the Era of Standards and High-Stakes Testing, Social Studies. The authors discuss the impact of standards and testing on curriculum and instruction. They begin with a brief history of the growth and development of academic standards and high-stakes testing. Next, they review relevant research on the impact high-stakes testing has had on curriculum and instruction and discuss ways that high-stakes testing has influenced student-teacher relationships. They also discuss specific problems faced by social studies teachers in the era of academic standards and high-stakes testing. [More] Descriptors: Academic Standards, Testing, Social Studies, High Stakes Tests
(2013). Learning Trajectories, Lesson Planning, Affordances, and Constraints in the Design and Enactment of Mathematics Teaching, Mathematical Thinking and Learning: An International Journal. Recent reform efforts in mathematics education have stimulated a focus on learning trajectories. At the same time, a global increase in high-stakes testing has influenced instructional practices. This study investigated how four fourth grade teachers within a school planned and enacted lessons to understand what mediated their planning and teaching decisions. Findings reveal that three of these teachers, who were veteran teachers, used a testing trajectory approach with decisions mediated by preparing students for high-stakes tests. The fourth teacher, a novice, attempted to use a learning trajectory approach to support student understanding. Results reveal that high-stakes testing played a crucial role in teachers' instructional decisions. Based on the findings, we provide a framework for a testing trajectory approach that the veteran teachers used to make instructional decisions. Further research is needed to understand how to support teachers to prepare students for testing using effective teaching practices. [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Teacher Effectiveness, Experienced Teachers, Testing
(2016). High Stakes Testing and Teacher Access to Professional Opportunities: Lessons from Indonesia, Journal of Education Policy. High-stakes testing regimes, in which schools are judged on their capacity to attain high student results in national tests, are becoming common in both developed and developing nations, including the United States, Britain and Australia. However, while there has been substantial investigation around the impact of high-stakes testing on curriculum and pedagogy, there has been very little research looking at the impact on teachers' professional opportunities. The current project used a case study approach to examine the impact a high-stakes national testing programme had on teachers' access to professional learning and their teaching allocations in four Indonesian public schools. It found that better qualified teachers were allocated to classes that would be sitting for the national examinations, and that these teachers were given much more access to professional learning opportunities than those teaching non-examined year levels. This in turn impacted negatively on the staff morale of less qualified teaching staff and potentially on their career trajectories. Findings suggest that school leaders should be wary of targeting better qualified and/or more experienced staff to year levels sitting for high-stakes tests, as this may lead to staff stratification within schools, limiting opportunities for staff to learn from one another and reducing the morale of less qualified and less experienced staff. They also add support to a substantial body of research that suggests policy-makers should be wary of the flow-on effects of using performance in high-stakes tests as the key means of judging school effectiveness. [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Curriculum, Teaching Methods, Teacher Qualifications
(2015). Common Planning Process of Middle School English Language Arts Teachers, Middle School Journal. In the current context of high stakes testing, school literacy is often defined by standardized literacy assessments–most state tests require students to demonstrate proficiency on specific kinds of writing tasks and reading material. Today, where schools and teachers exist in an environment of increased accountability, stakeholders who periodically review educational practices help ensure that teachers and students are meeting standards. In this context, low test scores on state assessments might signal that school-wide reform and restructuring is imminent. This article shares insights gleaned from examining the process of one middle school as they sought to meet the needs and interests of their middle school students. [More] [More] Descriptors: Educational Planning, Middle School Teachers, Grade 8, Language Arts
(2015). Adapting Educational Measurement to the Demands of Test-Based Accountability, Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives. Accountability has become a primary function of large-scale testing in the United States. The pressure on educators to raise scores is vastly greater than it was several decades ago. Research has shown that high-stakes testing can generate behavioral responses that inflate scores, often severely. I argue that because of these responses, using tests for accountability necessitates major changes in the practices of educational measurement. The needed changes span the entire testing endeavor. This article addresses implications for design, linking, and validation. It offers suggestions about possible new approaches and calls for research evaluating them. [More] Descriptors: Accountability, Educational Testing, Test Construction, Test Validity
(2012). High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Updated Analyses with NAEP Data, Education Policy Analysis Archives. The present research is a follow-up study of earlier published analyses that looked at the relationship between high-stakes testing pressure and student achievement in 25 states. Using the previously derived Accountability Pressure Index (APR) as a measure of state-level policy pressure for performance on standardized tests, a series of correlation analyses was conducted to explore relationships between high-stakes testing accountability pressure and student achievement as measured by the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) in reading and math. Consistent with earlier work, stronger positive correlations between the pressure index and NAEP performance in fourth grade math and weaker connections between pressure and fourth and eighth grade reading performance were found. Policy implications and future directions for research are discussed. [More] Descriptors: Academic Achievement, High Stakes Tests, Accountability, Testing