This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Gregory J. Cizek, Karen Sumaryono, Wayne W. Au, Gabriel A. Reich, Megan Burton, Kenneth E. Vogler, Caroline Chauncey, Coby V. Meyers, Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers, and Brian Jacob.
(2007). Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 2, March-April 2007, Harvard Education Press. "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) More Than "Making Nice": Getting Teachers to (Truly) Collaborate (Laura Pappano); (2) "Doing the Critical Things First": An Aligned Approach to PreK and Early Elementary Math; and (3) High-Stakes Testing and the Corruption of America's Schools (Sharon L. Nichols and David C. Berliner). [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Teacher Collaboration, Mathematics Instruction, Elementary School Mathematics
(2010). Interactions between Bullying and High-Stakes Testing at the Elementary School Level, Journal of School Violence. Bullying, a prevalent form of school violence, threatens development and learning. This article reports the findings of a qualitative study conducted in an elementary school, designed to gain an ecological understanding of bullying perceptions of this school community. The three research questions were: (a) How do individuals and groups within this community define school safety and violence? (b) How do concepts of school safety and violence affect behaviors? and (c) How might this community increase the safety of its children? Emergent from the data were the adults' preoccupation with improving results on the state-mandated high-stakes achievement test in contrast to the children's identification of largely unchecked bullying and its negative impact on their school experience and learning. Suggestions for future inquiries into bullying in an era of high-stakes testing are given. [More] Descriptors: Violence, Bullying, School Safety, Testing
(2008). Devising Inequality: A Bernsteinian Analysis of High-Stakes Testing and Social Reproduction in Education, British Journal of Sociology of Education. High-stakes, standardized testing has become the central tool for educational reform and regulation in many industrialized nations in the world, and it has been implemented with particular intensity in the United States and the United Kingdom. Drawing on research on high-stakes testing and its effect on classroom practice and pedagogic discourse in the United States, the present paper applies Bernstein's concept of the pedagogic device to explain how high-stakes tests operate as a relay in the reproduction of dominant social relations in education. This analysis finds that high-stakes tests, through the structuring of knowledge, actively select and regulate student identities, and thus contribute to the selection and regulation of students' educational success. [More] Descriptors: Testing, Standardized Tests, Educational Change, Foreign Countries
(2003). Rejoinder: E, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. Responds to critiques of an earlier article on the unintended consequences of high-stakes testing. Reiterates the need to look for positive as well as negative consequences of high stakes testing and calls for balance between the role of large-scale assessment in identifying achievement deficits and the responsibility educational systems have to redress deficiencies. Descriptors: Achievement Tests, Educational Assessment, Elementary Secondary Education, High Stakes Tests
(2010). Success with ELLs: ELLs at the Center–Rethinking High-Stakes Testing, English Journal. Learning a language can be a long and arduous journey, and there is a lot of pressure on teachers to get students ready for standardized tests quickly. Because of the high-stakes consequences attached to standardized tests in combination with consistently lower test scores among English language learners (ELLs), the tests greatly impact the instruction and educational experiences of ELLs. Traditional methods and teaching to the test are notoriously ineffective with language learners. Test-driven education reduces "the quality of education the ELLs receive." To alleviate the pressures of the high-stakes testing environment, the authors suggest that teachers should consider the use of low-stakes writing such as freewriting and writing-to-learn activities. The authors refer to the kind of activities that provide students with opportunities to communicate and express ideas free of judgment and corrections. Students should have a choice of which language or dialect they use to complete such activities. It is important to keep in mind that the ultimate goal is for students to become strong readers and writers as well as critical thinkers and decision-makers. That is, if students are given the opportunity to use the language closest to their hearts, the one that connects to who they are and their gifts to the world, they may be willing to take risks and engage in writing processes to accomplish a desired outcome–whether it is an essay, poem, or presentation. An additional way to lighten the high-stakes testing environment is for teachers to assume a leadership role in the field of education. There are multiple and influential ways in which teachers can broaden their understanding of teaching ELLs. Adopting a variety of collaborative and engaging practices to advocate for students, parents, and the teaching field in general will enhance a teacher's vantage point in assuming leadership roles. [More] Descriptors: English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Standardized Tests, High Stakes Tests
(2003). High Stakes in Chicago, Education Next. Examines the effects of high-stakes testing in Chicago, the first large urban school district to introduce a comprehensive accountability system. Concludes that high-stakes testing has the potential to improve student learning, but policymakers must look beyond aggregate measures of student performance to assess the nature of observed performance trends. Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Accountability, Educational Assessment, Educational Improvement
(2005). African American Students' Perception of Their Preparation for a High-Stakes Mathematics Test, Negro Educational Review, The. Life continues to change for minority children in general and African American children in particular in public schools where federal legislation mandates extensive high-stakes testing. Although high-stakes testing is a prominent element of public schooling in the United States, it has generated serious concerns from one of its primary clientele–the students. Drawing on interviews with students, this study presents and account of six African American students' perceptions of high-stakes testing (HST) in a large inner-city high school in Central Ohio with a high African American student population. Specifically, the study addresses the following questions: (a) How are students prepared for the mathematics portion of a high-stakes test? and (b) What do students suggest to improve the process? Consequently, students believe instruction and instructional content have changed with the teacher emphasizing materials on the test while narrowing other aspects of learning. [More] Descriptors: Student Attitudes, Mathematics Tests, Federal Legislation, Interviews
(2003). Are the Stakes Too High?. Discusses the problems with high-stakes testing using information from two Arizona State University studies that compared academic and vocational student scores on standardized tests. Suggests that there are many questions related to high-stakes testing that need to be answered before too much weight is given to a single test. Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Secondary Education, Standardized Tests, Student Evaluation
(2010). Get Smart: Facing High-Stakes Testing Together, Social Studies. Using personal narratives and research on teacher "communities of practice," the authors outline a proactive response to high-stakes testing policies that places teacher learning at its center. Although research on the effects of these policies is mixed, the authors are troubled by the ways in which the policies have been used to strip teachers of their autonomy and the erosion of the value placed on their professional knowledge. The authors–who have both taught in urban schools where students had to pass high-stakes social studies tests to graduate–argue that teachers must work together to reclaim their role as leaders in response to the policies. They provide key questions that social studies teachers can use to guide an inquiry into the tests themselves and suggest ways to use the knowledge gained to better serve their students' learning and raise test scores. [More] Descriptors: Urban Schools, Testing, High Stakes Tests, Personal Narratives
(2007). Arts Education in a High-Stakes Environment. The Informed Educator Series, Educational Research Service. What is the place of the arts in our schools? In a world of high-stakes testing and accountability, can schools "afford" to teach the arts? This "Informed Educator" explores why many who have studied this issue consider the arts to have an important role in the curriculum. Examples of the ways some leaders effectively communicate the benefits of the arts are presented. Elements of effective arts programs are also explored, along with suggestions for their implementation. [More] Descriptors: Art Education, High Stakes Tests, Accountability, Correlation
(2015). Re-Balancing Assessment: Placing Formative and Performance Assessment at the Heart of Learning and Accountability, McREL International. These days, a growing chorus of parents, educators, and policymakers is voicing frustration and anger with top-down accountability and high-stakes testing. As members of two not-for-profit education organizations–one focused on assessment and the other on research and instructional practices–the authors find nothing wrong with testing itself; indeed, they believe evidence of what students know and can do should be at the heart of schooling. They are concerned, however, about what seems to be an almost myopic focus on high-stakes accountability based on tests of basic knowledge and skills to drive improvements in educational outcomes, to the exclusion of using formative and performance assessment to facilitate student growth and deeper learning (i.e., the ability to apply knowledge and skills in novel situations) (Pelligrino & Hilton, 2012). Thus, they call for replacing our current, unbalanced formula of summative assessments and external pressure with a new, more balanced formula for assessment and accountability centered around "curriculum-embedded performance assessments" or "CEPAs"–classroom-based instructional units that provide multiple opportunities for learning and both formative and summative evidence-gathering. Done well, CEPAs can harness the power of real-time feedback, personalized learning, and real-world application to help students develop requisite foundational knowledge and deeper learning. Moreover, as the authors will discuss, CEPAs may be used for summative, including state accountability, purposes. While they are not a silver bullet, CEPAs could drive many other beneficial changes in the education system, including better classroom practice, more motivating and engaging school environments, and greater professional collaboration among educators. Perhaps most promising, CEPAs could undergird a state-level accountability system that measures what matters most: the extent to which students are developing and demonstrating the kinds of deeper learning they will need for success in college, career, and life. [More] Descriptors: Formative Evaluation, Performance Based Assessment, Student Evaluation, Accountability
(2007). Turning around Failing Schools: An Analysis, Journal of School Leadership. High-stakes testing and accountability implicate failing schools more frequently and more precisely than ever before. Consequently, efforts to turn around these schools have become paramount for educators, policy actors, and community members. Through a synthesis of research on failing schools, this article unpacks the constructs of school failure and turnaround. It also details causes of decline and crisis. Finally, it analyzes current educational strategies intended to turn failing schools into successful ones. [More] Descriptors: Educational Strategies, High Stakes Tests, Educational Change, Change Strategies
(2010). Students' Attitudes toward High-Stakes Testing and Its Effect on Educational Decisions, ProQuest LLC. With the recent increase in accountability due to No Child Left Behind, graduation rates and drop-out rates are important indicators of how well a school district is performing. High-stakes testing scores are at the forefront of a school's success and recognition as a school that is preparing and graduating students to meet society's challenging demands. High school years are a critical time in the lives of adolescents. High school students are trying to establish their sense of being, self-confidence, and belonging (Fasko & Flint, 1990); therefore, the challenges and outcomes of high-stakes testing are detrimental to their growth and future. High-stakes testing appeared to have taken its toll on students' self-worth and motivation, especially on those students who did not perform well (Afflerbach, 2004). The stigma of failing a test that determines a student's future may have caused unrecoverable detriment and altered educational success and may have resulted in the student's inability to overcome the idea of being labeled unsuccessful, thus, the indirect consequences of dropping out. According to Capodilupo and Wheelock (2000), "higher drop-out rates are predictable consequences of high-stakes testing" (p. 3). Terry (2008) wrote that the responsibility of protecting these interpersonal needs has fallen upon educators. By having a better understanding of the influence of the Subject Area Testing Program (SATP) on high school students' educational decisions, educators can motivate and help to determine the future of these adolescents and increase their opportunities to have a positive impact on society as opposed to becoming burdens to society or statistics. The purpose of this study was to determine if high-staking testing had an effect on educational decisions. The study addressed the many implementation areas of the Mississippi SATPs by gathering information from those most affected by the SATPs, the high school students. Therefore, students' perspectives were the driving force in determining whether or not the SATPs were influencing high school students' educational decisions. Data collected were vital in ensuring that schools' efforts to increase student achievement were not undermining student success by impeding self-motivation, and, thus increasing the drop-out rate in Mississippi. A 23-item student attitude survey with a 5-point Likert scale format was utilized to gather data from 168 high school students at two high schools along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Data were collected and analyzed with respect to various subgroups: students' attitudes toward the classes and teachers, implementation of the SATPs, and the effect of the SATPs on students' educational decisions. Conclusions about students' attitudes toward the SATPs and the effect on students' educational decisions were extracted by the researcher. The use of discriminant function analysis on the data collected revealed that several students were affected by the taking of three SATPs simultaneously. As a result, students changed their educational decisions and decided to drop out. [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 Schools, Testing Programs, Student Attitudes, Recognition (Achievement)
(2015). Moving beyond Compliance: Promoting Research-Based Professional Discretion in the Implementation of the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts, Mid-Western Educational Researcher. State- and local-level mandates are currently being implemented to ensure strict compliance to the new national Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS for ELA) and related assessments. These standards provide many potential opportunities to improve literacy education nationally and locally. However, the CCSS for ELA will likely face several implementation problems. Their content does not always comport with what research reveals about grade level progressions, text complexity, close reading, writing, and new media literacies. Such issues can result in gaps between research-based instructional practices and what teachers actually do in the classroom. Moreover, there are serious concerns about linking CCSS for ELA assessments with high-stakes testing because this may result in teaching that reflects narrow understandings of reading and writing. The CCSS for ELA also might limit the scope for educators to exercise professional judgment, which is critical for strong implementation in the classroom. To better inform policies related to the CCSS for ELA, particularly in Illinois, we conducted a comprehensive review of research, policies, and practices, and created recommendations for enhancing literacy education across K-12 schooling in light of the CCSS. This brief delineates recommendations for state and local policy makers to promote the use of research-based professional discretion by teachers and administrators to improve instruction in the implementation of the CCSS for ELA, and outlines the development of an Illinois Literacy Research Agenda. The findings indicate needed policy actions in five areas: curriculum and instruction, teacher education and professional development, program/school leadership, assessment, and research. [More] Descriptors: Academic Standards, State Standards, Language Arts, English
(2010). Mathematics Teachers' Instructional Practices in an Era of High-Stakes Testing, School Science and Mathematics. This study explored mathematics teachers' instructional practices in the context of high-stakes testing. Data were obtained from a survey instrument given to a stratified sample of Mississippi and Tennessee teachers who teach the same content tested on their state's high school graduation examination. An analysis showed teachers using a balance of standards-based and traditional practices and tools, including textbook-based assignments, calculators, open-response questions, supplementary materials, and multiple-choice questions. Over 90% of teachers from both states felt that an "interest in helping my students attain test scores that will allow them to graduate high school" was a factor influencing their instructional practices. This was followed by an "interest in helping my school improve high school graduation examination scores," and "belief these are the best instructional practices." [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Mathematics Teachers, Teaching Methods, Educational Practices