This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Shannon Hughes, Jason Bailey, David Halpin, Rebecca Powell, Marny Dickson, Sharon Gewirtz, Donald F. McDermott, Tyson Edward Lewis, Wayne Au, and Vena Jules.
(2008). Between Education and the Economy: High-Stakes Testing and the Contradictory Location of the New Middle Class, Journal of Education Policy. This paper analyzes the contradictory location of the professional and managerial new middle class within the rising tension between old systems of the industrial capitalist model of education, epitomized by a reliance on high-stakes, standardized testing and the newer forms of production associated with the "fast" capitalism of the global economy. The author argues that the professional and managerial new middle class is faced with a dilemma since they benefit from systems of high-stakes, standardized testing, yet require schools to also teach the types of skills and flexibility associated with knowledge economy. The analysis suggests that this dilemma represents the contradictory class location of the new middle class relative to both discursive and productive resources. [More] Descriptors: Middle Class, Testing, Standardized Tests, Global Approach
(2004). High-Stakes Hustle: Public Schools and the New Billion Dollar Accountability, Educational Forum, The. High-stakes testing costs up to $50 billion per annum, has no impact on student achievement, and has changed the focus of American public schools. This article analyzes the benefits and costs of the accountability movement, as well as discusses its roots in the eugenics movements of the early 20th century. [More] Descriptors: Costs, Public Schools, High Stakes Tests, Accountability
(2010). Influences of High-Stakes Testing on Middle School Mission and Practice, RMLE Online: Research in Middle Level Education. This study explored the effects of high-stakes testing and accountability on the fundamental practices associated with middle school philosophy. Participants were middle school educators, including administrators and teachers, from Pennsylvania middle schools. An online survey was used to collect data for this study. The survey addressed the following middle school practices: grouping for instruction, developmentally appropriate instructional practices, interdisciplinary and integrated curriculum, interdisciplinary teaming and planning, and advisory programs. Participants were also encouraged to add comments throughout the survey. Findings revealed that since the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the associated high-stakes tests, developmentally appropriate practices in middle schools have been altered to provide additional time for test preparation. In many cases, tested subject areas (specifically reading, writing, and mathematics) were given more instructional time during the school day. Furthermore, special area subjects (i.e., electives) were often sacrificed and, in some cases, advisory time was used for remediation. Implications for practice focus on the need to maintain a balance between test preparation and practices deemed appropriate for middle school students. [More] Descriptors: Integrated Curriculum, Middle Schools, Federal Legislation, Educational Philosophy
(2002). High-Stakes Testing for Students with Special Needs, Phi Delta Kappan. Argues that Alaska high-stakes testing requirements for high school graduation measure specific skills at levels that are beyond the reach of special-needs students. Discusses limited research, legislative issues, and parental concerns. Descriptors: Elementary Secondary Education, High Stakes Tests, Special Needs Students
(2015). Measuring What Really Matters, Phi Delta Kappan. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, large-scale assessments have come to play a central role in federal and state education accountability systems. Teachers and parents have expressed a number of concerns about their state testing programs, such as too much time devoted to testing and the high-stakes use of testing for teacher evaluation. We don't dispute that federal and state testing and accountability policies have been problematic or that there are ethical issues with high-stakes uses of a single measure. But rather than doing away with state tests, we should improve them so they do measure what matters, and so that what matters gets taught in our public schools. In short, we need a better system of assessments. [More] Descriptors: State Programs, Testing Programs, State Standards, Testing Problems
(2004). Principals' Portfolios: A Reflective Process for Displaying Professional Competencies, Personal Qualities and Job Accomplishments, School Administrator. The current emphasis on high-stakes testing is leaving an unmistakable imprint on all aspects of education. Our curriculum, our instructional methods and materials and even our understanding of the purpose of public education are being reshaped by the standardized tests. Another area where the impact of high-stakes testing can be felt is in the way we evaluate principals. Whatever methods a school district might be using, everyone knows that the bottom line is the bottom line. Of course, like any debate that is held in the public square, high-stakes testing has its advocates and its critics. In this case, at least, both sides can agree on one point: With high-stakes testing, the locus of control for education reform is external. Someone other than the teacher is setting the bar for the class, and someone other than the principal is setting the bar for the school. Regrettably, this carrot-and-stick approach to education reform misses a key point about how to motivate people to change. Change is an interior process. It is an inside job. Education reform will happen, if it is to happen at all, one teacher at a time and one principal at a time. And the way to better teachers and better principals is to recognize that change occurs when individual teachers and principals take personal responsibility for their individual professional growth. For the most part, people change when they set their minds to change. School principals are no exception. [More] Descriptors: Educational Change, Testing, Standardized Tests, Public Education
(2015). Retaking the Test, Educational Studies: Journal of the American Educational Studies Association. "Data-driven" teaching and learning is common sense in education today, and it is common sense that these data should come from standardized tests. Critiques of standardization either make no constructive suggestions for what to use in place of the tests or they call for better, more scientifically rigorous, reliable, and "authentic" forms of testing. This article aims to critique the underlying logic of testing within neoliberal education by a return to the question of the ontology of testing as such. We do this by distinguishing the practices and technologies used in current testing from the fundamentally educational and philosophical aspect of human experience that critical theorist Avital Ronell (2005) calls the "test drive." Posing the test drive against the current testing regime will allow us to reclaim health, personality, and taste from the high-stakes notion of testing that prevails today. [More] Descriptors: Testing, High Stakes Tests, Neoliberalism, Technology Uses in Education
(2011). Test-Tampering Found Rampant in Atlanta System, Education Week. The author reports on a state investigation into Atlanta's impressive gains on state tests which finds that test-tampering was rampant in the much-praised school system. The report unveiled by the Georgia governor's office states that Atlanta teachers and principals for years methodically altered answer sheets for students taking state tests, boosting scores and transforming struggling schools–and the district as a whole–into what appeared to be a spectacular urban success story. The investigative team drew on more than 2,100 interviews and examined more than 800,000 documents as part of its nearly yearlong probe into improbably high test scores across the 48,000-student district. Apparently one of the largest cases of alleged cheating on state exams to date, the scandal shines a harsh spotlight on the much-lauded district and is expected to fan debate over the validity and effectiveness of high-stakes testing-and-accountability systems. The findings also bring a disturbing coda to the career of former Superintendent Beverly L. Hall, who retired in June after 12 years in that job, and was at the helm of the district when the cheating was alleged to have occurred. The report says that Ms. Hall and her top staff must have known that cheating was taking place, because of the unusually high gains and the word of whistleblowers. [More] Descriptors: Urban Schools, School Districts, Cheating, High Stakes Tests
(2012). Differential Outcomes in High-Stakes Eleven Plus Testing: The Role of Gender, Geography, and Assessment Design in Trinidad and Tobago, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice. High-stakes placement testing at eleven plus remains a central and constant feature of education systems in the Anglophone Caribbean. In the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the Eleven Plus has been retained well into the era of universal secondary education, with a perceived legitimacy founded on the belief that examinations provide the fairest mechanism for allocating secondary school places. This study makes use of full cohort data from 1995 to 2005 to analyse Eleven Plus performance and placement outcomes for gender, geography, and assessment design changes. Data for the 279,904 students show that a 2001 assessment redesign led to larger gender differences in Language Arts and composite scores. For both the pre- and post-2001 assessment designs, placement within a first-choice school and assignment to a remedial track varied by geographic location, with variations larger after 2001. These patterns point to potential fairness issues within the placement system. [More] Descriptors: College Outcomes Assessment, Geography, Testing, Foreign Countries
(2010). Place-Based Pedagogy in the Era of Accountability: An Action Research Study, ProQuest LLC. Today's most common method of teaching biology–driven by calls for standardization and high-stakes testing–relies on a standards-based, de-contextualized approach to education. This results in "one size fits all" curriculums that ignore local contexts relevant to students' lives, discourage student engagement and ultimately work against a deep and lasting understanding of content. In contrast, place-based education–a pedagogical paradigm grounded in situated cognition and the progressive education tradition of John Dewey–utilizes the community as an integrating context for learning. It encourages the growth of school-community partnerships with an eye towards raising student achievement while also drawing students into the economic, political, social and ecological life of their communities. Such an approach seeks to provide students with learning experiences that are both academically significant and valuable to their communities. This study explores how high school science teachers can capitalize on the rich affordances offered by a place-based approach despite the constraints imposed by a state-mandated curriculum and high-stakes testing. Using action research, I designed, implemented, evaluated and refined an intervention that grounded a portion of a Living Environment high school course I teach in a place-based experience. This experience served as a unique anchoring event to contextualize students' learning of other required core topics. The overarching question framing this study is: How can science teachers capitalize on the rich affordances offered by a place-based approach despite the constraints imposed by a state-mandated curriculum and high-stakes testing? The following more specific questions were explored within the context of the intervention: (1) Which elements of the place-based paradigm could I effectively integrate into a Living Environment course? (2) In what ways would this integration impact students' interest? (3) In what ways would this integration impact students' perceived academic performance? (4) What are the costs of implementing this approach on the teacher? Data sources included my teacher log, writings from students' reflective journals, student answers to survey questions and student responses to focus group interviews. Using qualitative research methods, I triangulated the data from these multiple sources in an attempt to address each of the research questions. This process included identifying key analytic and explanatory themes that guided my subsequent readings and interpretations of the data. The patterns that emerged guided the search for other connections and interrelationships and formed the basis of my final analysis. This study demonstrates that I was able to successfully integrate selected elements of place-based education into my Living Environment course at least to some degree. As such, it confirms the feasibility of effectively incorporating key elements of the place-based paradigm into a high-stakes high school science course. My findings also support the literature's claim that embracing a place-based approach can pique students' interest in significant ways and therefore generate a higher level of student engagement that allows students to feel more confident about their learning. Findings also confirm literature articulating the beneficial use of artifacts while broadening such use to include ecology classes. Lastly, the study suggests the gains achieved in integrating a place-based approach more than outweigh the inevitable costs and challenges associated with its implementation. [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: Learner Engagement, Qualitative Research, Desegregation Effects, Intervention
(2002). What Students Think About High-Stakes Testing, Educational Leadership. Describes results of study of student attitudes toward high-stakes testing at one Indiana high school and how those results influence how teachers prepare students for the state mathematics and English proficiencies test. Descriptors: Curriculum, High Stakes Tests, Secondary Education, Student Attitudes
(2004). Curriculum Innovation within an Evaluative State: Issues of Risk and Regulation, Curriculum Journal. The English EAZ experience illustrates the difficulties of developing an innovative, responsive and inclusive curriculum within an evaluative state characterized by high stakes testing. Consequently, while government exhortations to "raise standards", "innovate" and "promote social inclusion" clearly serve an important rhetorical function, they may underestimate the challenges involved and overestimate the capacity of schools within disadvantaged areas to "make a difference". [More] Descriptors: Innovation, Disadvantaged, Rhetoric
(2011). Playing Their Way into Literacies: Reading, Writing, and Belonging in the Early Childhood Classroom. Language & Literacy Series, Teachers College Press. Karen Wohlwend provides a new framework for rethinking the boundaries between literacy and play, so that play itself is viewed as a literacy practice along with reading, writing, and design. Through a variety of theoretical lenses, the author presents a portrait of literacy play that connects three play groups: the girls and, importantly, boys, who played with Disney Princess media; "Just Guys" who used design and sports media to make a boys-only space; and a group of children who played teacher with big books and other school texts. These young children "play by design"–using play as a literacy to transform the texts that they read, write, and draw–but also as a tactic to transform their relational identities in the social spaces of peer and school cultures. Emphasizing the importance of play despite current high-stakes testing demands, this book: (1) Provides an argument for re-centering play in early childhood curricula where play functions as a literacy in its own right; (2) Offers cutting-edge analyses and examples of new literacies, popular culture, and multimodal discourses; (3) Illustrates how children's play can both produce and challenge normative discourses regarding ethnicity, gender, and sexuality; (4) Examines the multimodal, multimedia textual practices of young children as they play across tensions among popular media, peer relationships, and school literacy; and (5) Features vivid descriptions, examples of young children in action, and photographs. [Foreword by Jackie Marsh.] [More] Descriptors: Early Childhood Education, Play, Literacy, Young Children
(2011). Literacy for All Students: An Instructional Framework for Closing the Gap, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. The Culturally Responsive Instruction Observation Protocol (CRIOP) is a framework for implementing culturally relevant literacy instruction and classroom observation. Drawing on research and theory reflecting a range of perspectives–multicultural instruction, literacy theory, equity pedagogy, language and discourse models, sheltered instruction, critical pedagogy–it provides a means for assessing the many variables of classroom literacy instruction and for guiding practitioners in their development as multicultural educators. "Literacy for All Students": (1) Discusses issues in multicultural literacy instruction within the context of various essential instructional components (such as assessment, curriculum, parent collaboration); (2) Provides a protocol for observing features of literacy instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse students; and (3) Presents vignettes from real classrooms, written by elementary and middle school teachers, showing their victories and struggles as they attempt to implement a pedagogy that is culturally responsive within a climate of high stakes testing. A highly effective instrument for assessing culturally responsive literacy instruction in schools, the CRIOP serves as a model for realizing a literacy that is both relevant and transformative. [More] Descriptors: Critical Theory, Observation, Middle School Teachers, Literacy
(2004). NCLB: Up Close and Personal, Educational Leadership. Some of the recent studies show that the public's skepticism is increasing regarding the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The percentage of voters and parents who opposed NCLB has grown substantially, as school improvement and accountability is one thing, but high stake testing and withholding federal funds from schools that are under performing is entirely different. Descriptors: Federal Legislation, Accountability, Parents, High Stakes Tests