This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Natasha Segool, Victoria J. Risko, Yigal Attali, Robin Hamilton, Dave Putwain, Ian Cook, Amanda Keddie, Cynitha Digby, Stephen P. Kilgus, and Stephanie Cawthon.
(2013). Bad Tests or Bad Test Use? A Case of SAT Use to Examine Why We Need Stakeholder Conversations on Validity, Teachers College Record. Background: Much is still unknown or unclear about how and where validity issues arise in high stakes testing situations in education, and ways by which we can rectify validity problems in practice and policy contexts. Purpose: This paper is the Foreword to the Special Section in the "Teachers College Record," titled, "When Education Measures Go Public–Stakeholder Perspectives on How and Why Validity Breaks Down." Method: The paper analyzes a recent case involving an application of the SAT¬Æ to highlight tensions between validity and test score use in high stakes school accountability environments driven by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. It uses the case study as a vehicle to introduce the individual papers and authors in the section. Conclusions: There are information and power gaps among those who set societal priorities for using tests for high stakes purposes, those who design and conduct psychometric research on tests and testing programs, and those who could eventually face consequences of assessment misuse. These gaps could be addressed through thoughtful exchanges among key assessment stakeholders, as this special issue shows. [More] Descriptors: Validity, High Stakes Tests, College Entrance Examinations, Scores
(2009). Test Anxiety Associated with High-Stakes Testing among Elementary School Children: Prevalence, Predictors, and Relationship to Student Performance, ProQuest LLC. The current study explored differences in test anxiety on high-stakes standardized achievement testing and classroom testing among elementary school children. This is the first study to directly examine differences in student test anxiety across two testing conditions with different stakes among young children. Three hundred and thirty-five students in grades three through five participated in the current study. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests revealed that as a whole, students reported significantly more overall test anxiety in relation to high-stakes testing than classroom testing on two different measures of test anxiety (r = -0.21 and r = -0.10). Students also reported significantly more cognitive (r = -0.20) and physiological (r = -0.24) symptoms of test anxiety in relation to high-stakes testing than classroom testing. Teachers' perceptions of student anxiety were also examined in the current study and consistent with student self-reported test anxiety, results indicated that teachers believed students experienced significantly more anticipatory anxiety in relation to high-stakes testing versus classroom testing. Analyses of variance indicated that low test-anxious students performed significantly better on high-stakes testing while there was no difference in performance between moderate and high test-anxious students. Further, multiple regression analyses indicated that test anxiety contributed significantly to English Language Arts test performance among third and fourth grade students and Math test performance among third grade students. Additionally, the current study examined the relationship between test anxiety and student demographic characteristics. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that student gender and grade significantly predicted student test anxiety, while student ethnicity, educational verification, and socioeconomic status did not. The current study also examined the relationship between three measures of test anxiety and differences in how three test anxiety classification systems sorted students into low, moderate, and high test-anxious groups. Correlation analyses indicated that the Children's Test Anxiety Scale for Children (CTAS), Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC), and Behavior Assessment Scale for Children, Second Edition, Test Anxiety subscale (BASC-2-TA) were strongly related to one another (rs > .70). However, chi-square goodness of fit tests revealed that there were significant differences in the proportions of students classified as low, moderate, and high test-anxious across classification systems. Using the CTAS and TASC to classify students, prevalence rates of high test anxiety in relation to classroom testing ranged from 11 to 21 percent, respectively. Similar rates of students were classified as highly test-anxious across the high-stakes and classroom testing conditions using the CTAS. [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: Elementary School Students, Incidence, Testing, Academic Achievement
(2013). Identification and Validation of a Brief Test Anxiety Screening Tool, International Journal of School & Educational Psychology. The implementation of test-based accountability policies around the world has increased the pressure placed on students to perform well on state achievement tests. Educational researchers have begun taking a closer look at the reciprocal effects of test anxiety and high-stakes testing. However, existing test anxiety assessments lack efficiency and ease of use necessary for universal screening and progress monitoring in school settings. This study investigated the psychometric properties of a brief version of the FRIEDBEN Test Anxiety Scale (B-FTAS), which has the unique strength of measuring test anxiety using a contemporary biopsychosocial model. The B-FTAS was administered to 1,463 high school students across 6 school districts 1 week before a high-stakes test. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identified a 3-factor, brief, 12-item test anxiety assessment consistent with a biopsychosocial model including social, cognitive, and physiological factors. Results provide sufficient evidence for internal reliability and validity of this brief measure of test anxiety. Implications for future development and use of screening instruments in the assessment of high or debilitating anxiety are discussed. [More] Descriptors: Test Anxiety, Screening Tests, Disability Identification, Program Validation
(2013). Invisibility: An Unintended Consequence of Standards, Tests, and Mandates, Journal of Language and Literacy Education. As elementary and middle school teachers and students face standards, high-stakes testing, accountability, and one-size-fits all curricula, concerns have arisen that these practices limit the relevance and efficacy of teaching and learning. In this paper, we argue that such practices exact personal costs on students and the teachers expected to implement them. With data from a series of studies implemented across several years, we show how such practices too often create an instructional climate that, in effect, renders teachers and students invisible and nonessential to the literacy instruction that occurs in the classroom. First, we discuss the research that grounds our thinking. Then, we describe three approaches that can overcome invisibility for both students and teachers: teaching with students' hearts and heads in mind, promoting culturally responsive pedagogy, and creating a productive literacy environment. We conclude with portraits of three teachers, who in spite of external pressures create literacy instruction that makes their students' capabilities visible in their classroom instruction. [More] Descriptors: Elementary School Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High Stakes Tests, Literacy Education
(2013). Instructional Practices in High and Low Mastery Performing Social Studies Classrooms within High Need School Districts, ProQuest LLC. Testing has become a part of the educational routine, and accountability has become linked with testing programs. In the wake of state-designed standards, and state-mandated high stakes tests that are used to assess individual student performance, as well as overall performance by a teacher, school, or district, educational professionals are charged with sorting out the impact that high stakes testing has upon instruction. The testing movement has caused educational professionals to question the impact that instruction has on test scores. In short, does instruction matter, and is there a connection between good instruction and test scores? This study examines how instructional practices differ for social studies teachers in both high and low achieving mastery classrooms within high need schools. Instructional practices are defined by using Charlotte Danielson's Domains of Effective Instruction, and Robert Marzano's research on feedback loops. The research identified those factors which were different in high and low mastery performing classrooms while also identifying instructional efficacy as an emerging concept that also played a role in performance. [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: Social Studies, Educational Practices, School Districts, Testing
(2013). Historicizing and Contextualizing Global Policy Discourses: Test- and Standards-Based Accountabilities in Education, International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives. This paper in commenting on the contributions to this special number demonstrates the necessity of historicizing and contextualizing the rise of test- and standards-based modes of accountability in contemporary education policy globally. Both are imperative for understanding specific national manifestations of what has become a globalized educational policy discourse, namely, that such modes of accountability will drive up student performance and thus enhance the global economic competitiveness of nations. New modes of testing might be seen as a new-old system, given the provenance of testing in schooling systems. The paper will argue that there are global and national elements to this policy situation, with national and global testing of students and school systems sitting in symbiotic relationships with each other. It will also be argued that high-stakes testing has become a fourth message system of schooling that steers today the practices of schools and teachers in classrooms, often with reductive anti-educational effects. Comment will also be made about how these educational developments fit within the broader structure of feeling and how they open up possibilities for edu-businesses to take an increasing role in policy. [More] Descriptors: Accountability, Educational Policy, Educational History, Academic Achievement
(2013). A Comparative Case Study of Kindergarten Transition Practices and the Impact on Children's Kindergarten Readiness, ProQuest LLC. This comparative case study, with a phenomenological approach examined the effect of kindergarten transition practices on kindergarten reading achievement. Study participants were 4 administrators and 8 kindergarten teachers at 2 elementary schools in southeastern North Carolina. Findings included 61 transition practices and 4 barriers not previously reported in the literature. Data from multiple resources were triangulated and descriptive findings were compared to a Kindergarten Transition Program Logic Model that revealed the number and intensity of school based transition practices were associated with more positive reading achievement in kindergarten. This finding was contradicted by factors not controlled for in this study. The findings from the research support policies for the creation and implementation of written kindergarten transition plans that may help children on a trajectory for improved reading achievement and help districts meet high-stakes testing demands. [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: Kindergarten, School Readiness, Comparative Analysis, Case Studies
(2013). The Logics of Good Teaching in an Audit Culture: A Deleuzian Analysis, Educational Philosophy and Theory. This article examines the attempted reform of education within an emerging audit culture in Australia that has led to the implementation of a high-stakes testing regime known as NAPLAN. NAPLAN represents a machine of auditing, which creates and accounts for data that are used to measure, amongst other things, good teaching. In particular, we address the logics of a policy intervention that aims to improve the quality of education through returning "good teaching". Using Deleuze's concepts of series, events, copies and simulacra, we suggest that an attempt to return past commonsense logics of "good teaching" as a result of NAPLAN is not possible. In an audit culture as exemplified by NAPLAN, "good teaching" is being reconceptualized through those practices and becomes unrecognizable. Whilst policy claims to improved equity and quality are admirable, this article suggests that the simulacral change to logics of good teaching may actualize something very different. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Educational Change, High Stakes Tests, Teacher Effectiveness
(2013). The Stability of Teacher Effects on Student Math and Reading Achievement over Time: A Study of One Midsize District, ProQuest LLC. Increased attention on teacher accountability via student achievement gains has brought proposed policy changes which recommend teachers receive performance pay as recognition for effective teaching. In response to growing consensus that teachers' contributions to student learning should be a part of the teacher evaluation process, education reformers have begun implementing pay-for-performance models that reward teacher performance by the scores their students receive on high-stakes testing through the use of sophisticated value-added models. There is currently a broad scope of value-added models based on student academic achievement gains, and the majority of studies centering on these diverse models indicate little stability in teacher scores across time. This study takes into account the previous research on value-added growth models, and explores the uncharted territory of measuring teacher stability on state assessment scores in one midsize district over a longer period of time. Results from this study showed weak to moderate correlations from one year to the next in stability of teacher scores, with more stability evidenced in math than in reading. As a result of the instability of teacher scores over time, teacher characteristics attributed to stable and unstable teachers respectively could not be determined. [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: Teacher Effectiveness, Mathematics Achievement, Reading Achievement, School Districts
(2013). Scoring with the Computer: Alternative Procedures for Improving the Reliability of Holistic Essay Scoring, Language Testing. Automated essay scoring can produce reliable scores that are highly correlated with human scores, but is limited in its evaluation of content and other higher-order aspects of writing. The increased use of automated essay scoring in high-stakes testing underscores the need for human scoring that is focused on higher-order aspects of writing. This study experimentally evaluated several alternative procedures for eliciting distinct human scores and improving their reliability. Essays written in response to the argument and issue tasks of the Analytical Writing measure of the GRE General Test were scored by experienced raters under different conditions. Criteria for evaluation included inter-rater agreement, agreement with machine scores, and cross-task reliability. First, the use of a modified scoring rubric that focused on higher-order writing skills increased the reliability for one type of task but decreased it for another. Second, scoring in batches of similar length essays did not have any effect on scores. Third, scoring with available automated essay scores increased reliability of human scores, but also increased their similarity with automated scores. Finally, the use of a more refined 18-point scoring scale significantly increased reliability. [More] Descriptors: Scoring, Essay Tests, Reliability, High Stakes Tests
(2013). Incorporating the Aesthetic Dimension into Pedagogy, Australian Journal of Teacher Education. This paper reports on a case study that was undertaken to discover not only the belief and intent behind the everyday opportunities that four exemplary teachers offered their high performing students but what activities they incorporated into their everyday lessons in an attempt to make sense of how aesthetic experiences may enhance learning. The paper explores the importance of understanding the effects of practical aesthetic experiences on learning as identified by pragmatist philosopher and educator John Dewey. It is assumed here that every classroom experience is an aesthetic experience that may be positive (i.e. educative), negative (i.e. miseducative) or benign; it will affect the students in some way. This recognition is crucial to avoid unintended miseducative practices and alternatively embrace positive aesthetic learning practices and rituals. Adopting an aesthetic pedagogy in the classroom does imply taking the "scenic route" of learning but it does not necessarily compromise or work against the current dominant practice of high-stakes testing and measured outcomes. It alternatively claims to positively enhance these compulsory and measured outcomes for students in that they can critically engage with these practices. [More] Descriptors: Aesthetics, Teaching Methods, Case Studies, Educational Philosophy
(2013). Programs of Study: Development Efforts in Six States, International Journal of Educational Reform. Educational reform in the United States is perpetually evolving. Much of the recent reforms have concentrated on high-stakes testing and assessment, but a parallel effort has been emerging in the field of vocational and career education. Prompted partly by federal legislation–most recently by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (also known as Perkins IV)–the field has been dramatically altered to include a renewed vision of vocational education. The Perkins IV legislation officially changed the title and focus of the efforts, installing the name "career and technical education" as the replacement for the older version of "vocational education and training." Armed with this new name, the focus of the reforms took on new perspectives, adding a career education focus and broadening the goals to include academic learning with vocational/work-based learning. The result has been a renewed effort to make all students "college and career ready." [More] Descriptors: Vocational Education, Educational Change, Career Readiness, College Readiness
(2013). Assessment Accommodations on Tests of Academic Achievement for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis of the Research Literature, American Annals of the Deaf. The authors conducted a qualitative meta-analysis of the research on assessment accommodations for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. There were 16 identified studies that analyzed the impact of factors related to student performance on academic assessments across different educational settings, content areas, and types of assessment accommodations. The meta-analysis found that the results of analyses of group effects of accommodated versus unaccommodated test formats are often not significant, test-level factors exist that can affect how students perceive the assessments, and differences exist in how test items function across different conditions. Student-level factors, including educational context and academic proficiency, influence accommodations' role in assessment processes. The results of this analysis highlight the complexity of and intersections between student-level factors, test-level factors, and larger policy contexts. Findings are discussed within the context of larger changes in academic assessment, including computer-based administration and high-stakes testing. [The full text of this article is available as a Grantee Submission, ED555688.] [More] Descriptors: Testing Accommodations, Academic Achievement, Deafness, Hearing Impairments
(2013). Redistribution, Recognition and Representation: Working against Pedagogies of Indifference, Pedagogy, Culture and Society. This paper reports on an Australian government-commissioned research study that documented classroom pedagogies in 24 Queensland schools. The research created the model of "productive pedagogies", which conjoined what Nancy Fraser calls a politics of redistribution, recognition and representation. In this model pedagogies are differentiated to support the role of schooling as a positional good, a good in itself, and a good towards the betterment of the broader social world. In contrast with the model's intentions, the pedagogies mapped in the study's classrooms lacked differentiation; indeed, they reflected "pedagogies of indifference" and were seen as producing and legitimising social inequalities. The paper theorises the redistributive, recognitive and representative justice possibilities of "productive pedagogies" towards more equitable outcomes for marginalised students. The paper justifies its reprising of this research in light of the contemporary policy emphasis on teaching quality, the reductive impact on pedagogies of high-stakes testing, and the context of growing inequality which limits the potential effects of schools and teacher pedagogies. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Classroom Research, Instructional Effectiveness, Instruction
(2013). Is Test Anxiety a Peril for Students with Intellectual Disabilities?, Journal of Intellectual Disabilities. Test anxiety is one of the most confronting issues in modern times with the increase in the number of standardised and high-stakes testing. Research has established that there is a direct link between test anxiety and cognitive deficits. The aim of this study is to determine the test anxiety scores of the students with intellectual disabilities in South Australia. It also provided insights into the reasons for high-test anxiety in the participants under study. The Spielberger's Test Anxiety Questionnaire was administered on students with intellectual disabilities in stage 1. Interviews were conducted with participants with intellectual disabilities, parents and teachers in stage 2. Questionnaire findings revealed that the majority of the adolescent females and males and all adult females with intellectual disabilities had high test anxiety scores. However, the majority of adult males with intellectual disabilities obtained moderate test anxiety scores. In the worry and emotionality subscales, it was also found that the majority of adolescents and adults with intellectual disabilities were found to score high. The high test anxiety scores have been justified by the interview responses obtained from the three groups of respondents. A number of factors have been identified to be the major predictors of test anxiety in students with intellectual disabilities. [More] Descriptors: Test Anxiety, Intellectual Disability, Anxiety, Likert Scales