This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Kelly Quintero, Colleen M. Fairbanks, Qiuyun Lin, Carole Edelsky, George E. Deboer, Maurice Galton, Terrence Quinn, Shelby Anne Wolf, Eugene Edgar, and Mary A. Broughton.
(2002). Emerging Trends in Teacher Education, Mid-Western Educational Researcher. Examines emerging trends in teacher education, focusing on accountability, alternatives, and demand. Discusses high stakes testing for teachers, the impact of teacher quality on student learning, alternative teacher certification, the role of community colleges in teacher preparation, and the true nature of the much-publicized teacher shortage. Descriptors: Accountability, Alternative Teacher Certification, Educational Quality, Educational Trends
(2002). Teaching to the Test When One Size Doesn't Fit All, Voices from the Middle. Considers why ethnically diverse students' test performance belie their intellectual capacity. Notes that much can be done at the classroom level to eradicate this achievement gap and customize "one size fits all" standards-based instruction. Interviews two teachers who work in states where high-stakes testing dominates the educational debate. Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Cultural Differences, High Stakes Tests, Interviews
(2002). Democratic Dispositions and Cultural Competency: Ingredients for School Renewal, Remedial and Special Education. This article argues that the current school reform movement of high-stakes testing is misguided. It advocates that democratic dispositions and cultural competency be included in the major goals of schooling and proposes that the purpose of schooling should be determined through public deliberation within diverse communities. (Contains references.) Descriptors: Academic Standards, Citizenship Education, Community Involvement, Cultural Awareness
(2002). Poor Teaching for Poor Kids, Language Arts. Suggests that the most conspicuous victims of high-stakes testing are low-income minority children. Notes that families and educators are beginning to "engage in civil disobedience to rescue education from the current accountability fad." Concludes that it is very important to investigate whether the proposed response is likely to fix the problem or make it worse. Descriptors: Accountability, Educational Improvement, Elementary Education, High Stakes Tests
(2002). We Need an Education Rights Movement, Talking Points. Presents a speech delivered at the 2001 Whole Language Umbrella Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Considers the situation behind the call for an education rights movement. Discusses how privatizing, corporatizing, and standardizing are happening in many public spheres. Suggests that schools are being manipulated by corporations. Calls for an education rights movement that has one organizing issue: high stakes testing. Descriptors: Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education, High Stakes Tests, Literacy
(2002). Beyond Standardization: Testing and Assessment in Standards-Based Reform, Action in Teacher Education. Discusses the roles of testing and assessment in meeting real academic goals in standards-based reform, arguing that performance-based alternative assessment has advantages over high stakes testing. To help teachers design appropriate alternative assessment, the paper offers suggestions on what they should know and be able to do according to the standards. Descriptors: Academic Standards, Alternative Assessment, Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education
(2002). Enemy of the Good, Education Next. Argues that while flawed, value-added high-stakes testing holds schools accountable for student performance. For example, the use of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, a criterion-referenced assessment, has significantly improved student achievement in Houston. Descriptors: Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education, High Stakes Tests, Standardized Tests
(2002). Chicago Public Schools' Promotion Policy: Potential Due Process Violations and Title VI Implementations. This paper–part of a collection of 54 papers from the 48th annual conference of the Education Law Association held in November 2002–discusses high-stakes testing. Specifically, it examines the high-stakes testing program in Chicago public schools, a grade-promotion policy that uses a standardized test as the primary basis for promotion. Although there are many legal concerns related to high-stakes testing, this paper limits its discussion to how high-stakes testing relates to equal protection, due process, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In its discussion, this paper examines the following topics in varying degrees of detail and complexity: (1) major legal precedents and court cases involving testing; (2) claims under Title VI that high-stakes tests are illegally discriminatory; (3) definitions of due process; (4) details of Chicago public schools' promotion policy; and (5) a legal analysis of Chicago public schools' promotion policy. The paper concludes that there should be concern about different schools' approaches to preparing students for assessments. Legal attention should follow the implementation and execution of accountability programs to ensure that due process, Title VI, and other educational deprivations do not occur. (Contains 47 endnotes, most of which are references to court cases.) Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Academic Failure, Accountability, Court Litigation
(2002). Redefining Leadership in the Standards Era, Principal. Describes how principals can provide the instructional leadership necessary to meet higher academic standards required by state standards and high-stakes testing. Suggestions include establishing goals and objectives, promoting a culture of learning, reordering priorities, emphasizing professional development, and focusing on results. Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Academic Standards, Classroom Observation Techniques, Elementary Secondary Education
(2002). Stances and Dances: The Negotiation of Subjectivities in a Reading/Language Arts Classroom, Language Arts. Describes how in the examination of a sixth-grade girl's participation in the language arts classroom that is driven by high-stakes testing and by a regimented classroom culture, the authors came to view students' approaches to literacy events as "stances" and their negotiation of their subjectivities in response to literacy events as "dances." Descriptors: Case Studies, Classroom Environment, Grade 6, High Stakes Tests
(2003). Test Preparation: What Makes It Effective?. As testing has taken on a more significant role in the college admission process and, more recently, in K-12 education through the increasing popularity of high-stakes testing, so have the urgency of questions surrounding test preparation initiatives, through both private and educational ventures and school-sponsored preparation programs. This chapter reviews the debate concerning test preparation program effectiveness and presents components necessary to a good test preparation program. [More] Descriptors: College Admission, College Entrance Examinations, Educational Testing, High Stakes Tests
(2002). Student-Centered Teaching in a Standards-Based World: Finding a Sensible Balance, Science and Education. Addresses the tension that exists in the present reform movement in science education related to rigor and accountability. Points out that the tension is between standards, benchmarks, and high stakes testing on one hand, and student-centered approaches to teaching and learning on the other. (Contains 25 references.) Descriptors: Curriculum Development, Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education, Higher Education
(2002). Continuity and Progression in Science Teaching at Key Stages 2 and 3, Cambridge Journal of Education. Suggests science taught at Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14) has changed little over the past two decades despite introduction of National Curriculum reforms. Notes high stakes testing at the end of Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11) has resulted in less experimentation in Year 6. Examines structural factors responsible for the current situation. Descriptors: Classroom Techniques, Educational Change, Elementary Education, Foreign Countries
(2002). The Abuse of Accountability, School Administrator. Asserts that accountability has become a process of high-stakes testing, assessing blame for low student test scores, and then punishing teachers and administrators; argues that accountability should not be limited to testing alone, especially a single test, and should include allocation of resources based on identified needs. Descriptors: Accountability, Elementary Secondary Education, Evaluation, Resource Allocation
(2002). Teaching True and to the Test in Writing, Language Arts. Focuses on what the authors have learned from six exemplary teachers of writing who teach within high-stakes accountability systems. Notes that based on what they have seen in the teachers' classrooms and discussed with them and their students, their response to the reality of high-stakes testing is the need to "teach true and to the test in writing." Descriptors: Case Studies, Elementary Education, High Stakes Tests, Teaching Methods