This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Melissa Roderick, Deirdre Cobb-Roberts, Bryan Brayboy, Deanna Michael, Dale D. Johnson, Larry Johnson, Luana Zellner, Michael E. Jennings, Deborah Jinkins, and Douglas Kellner.
(2004). Can Scientific Research From the Laboratory be of Any Use to Teachers?, Theory Into Practice. Behavior in a psychology laboratory?constrained by the need to efficiently replicate tasks, record individual responses, and avoid contamination from external factors?is different in systematic ways from behavior within an everyday environment where similar tasks are undertaken and problems solved. This article describes a program of research that identified the sources of this "ecological invalidity" of laboratory settings. The authors connect these insights to current attempts to apply laboratory controls in field research in schools where measures of the effectiveness of instructional programs can be based on high-stakes testing. While recognizing important applications of controlled experimentation both in the laboratory and in the educational policy research, they also find potential for the experimental controls themselves to lead researchers and decision makers to the wrong conclusion. [More] Descriptors: Scientific Research, Laboratories, Research Methodology, High Stakes Tests
(2004). Getting Ready for Online Testing, T.H.E. Journal. Embarking on a high-stakes online testing program is a major enterprise that requires planning, teamwork, communication, flexibility and good problem-solving skills. It is important to be aware of the issues that one may confront and what hurdles might have to be overcome to be successful in the job. The Virginia Department of Education established a project management team (PMT) to develop and guide what is called the Web-based Standards of Learning Technology Initiative. Descriptors: Federal Legislation, Testing Programs, Administrative Organization, State Standards
(2005). High Stakes: Poverty, Testing, and Failure in American Schools. Second Edition, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.. High Stakes brings the voices of students and teachers to national debates over school accountability and educational reform. Recounting the experiences of two classrooms during one academic year, the book offers a critical exploration of excessive state-mandated monitoring, high-stakes testing pressures, and inequities in public school funding that impede the instructional work of teachers, especially those who serve children of poorer families. Redbud Elementary has no playground, no library, no hot water, and no art classes. Ninety-five percent of the children qualify for a free breakfast or lunch. Most of the children live with a single parent or relative; some live in homes without electricity, running water, or floors. The authors, who moved from comfortable college professor positions to teach in a poor school district, offer an eye-opening examination of the daily school lives of children who live in crushing poverty and teachers who work under extraordinary stress. Their tale is at times heartbreaking, heartwarming, or infuriating. They explain why many recent educational reforms are off track and argue for more meaningful reforms that can empower teachers and students and better meet the challenges of our communities and the national interest. This second edition updates the story of Redbud Elementary and takes a hard look at the national expansion of accountability from preschool through college. A new final chapter focuses on the national effects of the No Child Left Behind Act as well as states' experiences with mandates and the role of big business in the testing process. This edition concludes with coverage of the so-called silent professionals and opposition to high-stakes testing, and a consideration of the future prospects for American education. The books content is divided into the following thirteen chapters: (1) The Realities of an Underfunded School; (2) September: The Children We Teach; (3) October: Regulating Teaching; (4) November: Drugs, Poverty, and Test Scores; (5) December: "Clamp Down"; (6) January: Test Preparation-The Pace Quickens; (7) February: Pep Rallies for Tests; (8) March: Test-Day Traumas; (9) April: Freedom to Teach and Learn; (10) May: "I Don't Want to Spend My Time on Paperwork"; (11) How Can We Build a Better Future? Recommendations for Policy Change; (12) Today a Nation of Testing; and (13) Epilogue. [More] Descriptors: Federal Legislation, Educational Policy, Educational Change, Academic Failure
(2007). Critical Media Literacy: Crucial Policy Choices for a Twenty-First-Century Democracy, Policy Futures in Education. The concept of critical media literacy expands the notion of literacy to include different forms of mass communication and popular culture, as well as deepens the potential of literacy education to critically analyze relationships between media and audiences, information and power. The authors argue that critical media literacy is crucial for participatory democracy in the twenty-first century, and that the only progressive option that exists is how to teach it, not whether to teach it. The article, first, explores the theoretical underpinnings of critical media literacy and demonstrates examples from community-based after school programs and an inner-city elementary school that received a federal grant to integrate media literacy and the arts into the curriculum. A multiperspectival approach addressing issues of gender, race, class and power is used to explore the interconnections of media literacy with cultural studies and critical pedagogy. It is argued that alternative media production must engage students to challenge the master narratives and the systems that make them appear natural. The article then explores the public policy options open to implementing a critical media literacy program. Focusing on media literacy policy in the USA, different approaches commonly used for teaching media literacy are explored and a hybrid critical media literacy framework is proposed. In this day and age of standardized high-stakes testing and corporate solicitations in public education, radical democracy depends on a Deweyan reconceptualization of literacy and the role of education in society. The authors conclude that on the public policy level critical media literacy must reframe our understanding of literacy so that these ideas become integrated across the curriculum at all levels from pre-school to university. [More] Descriptors: Critical Theory, Literacy Education, Federal Aid, Popular Culture
(2004). Undermining Democratic Education in the USA: The Consequences of Global Capitalism and Neo-Liberal Policies for Education Policies at the Local, State and Federal Levels, Policy Futures in Education. In the USA, many of the recent education reforms have been implemented in response to calls from neo-liberal and conservative policy makers to improve education efficiency and reduce public expenditures within an increasingly globalized economy. Consequently, local, state, and federal education policies increasingly employ curricular standards and high-stakes testing as a means of introducing competition and markets into education. Moreover, for some policy makers such reforms are the first step towards privatizing education through charter schools and vouchers programs. In this article the author analyzes the consequences such policies have had on the education system on three scales: the city of Chicago, the state of New York, and the US federal government. In particular, the reforms have shifted the control over education from the local to the state and federal levels. Further, the reforms have increased inequality between the advantaged middle-class and White students and the disadvantaged working-class students and students of color. [More] Descriptors: Charter Schools, Democracy, High Stakes Tests, Educational Change
(2007). Accountability and Abdication: School Reform and Urban School Districts in the Era of Accountability, Educational Foundations. The current school reform era has moved through a series of phases, coupling state centralization with a focus on school-level change at each step. Yet this era of reform also has a deeper history. Its deeper history reveals the dynamics that would plague the school reform era until the present day. While the school reform era seemed to focus on school-level change, it was actually a process of state (and federal) centralization. Setting standards and creating high stakes testing programs were state efforts with which schools were expected to comply. Thus, school-level reform became implicated in linking individual schools more tightly to state policy. This in turn put school districts in a novel position. That is, how was the district to understand its role when accountability policy linked the schools tightly with the state policy? In some instances, accountability policies created a situation where some districts found that abdicating their authority over local schools made good sense. Indeed, studies of urban school districts revealed that this abdication can take more than one form. The situation being created by accountability policy means that people may need to rethink the idea of school districts as public institutions. In this article, the authors review the history of school districts in order to set the context for the changes being prompted by accountability policy. Next, they discuss their research (funded by the Rockefeller Foundation) in four urban school districts and how it illuminated the ways in which school districts were struggling to find their role on this redefined scene of public policy. Finally, the authors suggest some ideas for reconceptualizing school districts themselves. [More] [More] Descriptors: Urban Schools, Standard Setting, School Districts, Educational Change
(2004). Ending Social Promotion: The Response of Teachers and Students. Charting Reform in Chicago Series, Consortium on Chicago School Research. This report takes an in-depth look at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teachers' responses to the high-stakes-testing initiatives and the impact on students' school experiences. It examines teachers and principals' assessments of the policy, tracks changes in instructional practice over time, and examines trends in critical student indices. The report begins by exploring the view of the educators in low-performing schools. In 1999 and 2001, the Consortium on Chicago School Research's surveys included supplemental questions about CPS's efforts to end social promotion. The supplement asked teachers and principals to assess the impact of the policy on student learning and behavior, on parental attitudes and involvement, and on their own educational practices. The survey allowed this report to examine educators' views of grade retention, and in particular, the extent to which educators felt the policy was consistent with their own pedagogies. The study then looks at changes in teachers' reports of their instructional practices both before and after the landmark 1996 reforms. Most prior research finds that teachers do not support accountability policies that rely only on standardized test scores to judge student performance. Yet there is also considerable evidence that teachers are highly responsive to accountability programs and often align their curriculum with the content of the test, spending more time on test preparation in response. Since 1994, the Consortium on Chicago School Research has conducted biannual surveys of all CPS teachers and principals, and all sixth- through 10th-grade CPS students. Each year, the survey asks teachers to report how much time they spend on test-preparation activities and on the content they cover in reading and mathematics. These longitudinal surveys allow researchers to improve upon other studies of high-stakes testing that have relied on data collected only after the introduction of testing. This study traces changes in the magnitude of teachers' responses over time in low-performing schools and also explores how instructional content changes differ across these schools. [More] Descriptors: Teaching Methods, Educational Change, Standardized Tests, Social Promotion
(2007). What We Want: Boys and Girls Talk about Reading, School Library Media Research. Most school-age boys score lower than girls at every level on standardized tests of reading comprehension in almost every country where tested. The amount of reading that a child does is directly related to reading fluency; the more one reads, the more proficient one becomes. After reviewing theories and research studies investigating why boys perform less well than girls, a consensus emerges that one reason boys read less is because the kind of reading they are given to do in school does not connect to their interests. A small empirical study in one rural elementary school provides further insight into motivations for reading and non-reading by both boys and girls. The evidence is incontrovertible that as a group, school-age boys score lower than girls at every level on standardized tests of reading comprehension, in almost every country where tested, most notably in the United States (NCES 2002), Canada, England, and Australia, where students are continuously tested. Therefore, the obvious conclusion from this data is that we are failing to make readers of our sons. Analyses of statistics are many and controversial, especially as the latest round of "educational reform" fueled by the Education Act of 2001 has generated more high-stakes testing of students and measurable accountability on the part of teachers, schools, and school districts. Additionally, computers have made gathering, storing, and analyzing statistics simpler than ever before, and the Internet has made it easier to publish and retrieve them. But how do the children themselves feel about reading? Teachers and school library media specialists (SLMSs), trained in reading, in books, and in best practices, often assume that they know what is best for students. At what juncture should the students' viewpoints be taken into consideration? [More] Descriptors: Reading Comprehension, Reading Fluency, Females, Standardized Tests
(2004). What's Wrong with Teaching to the Test?, Phi Delta Kappan. Opponents of so-called high-stakes testing complain that such intense pressure causes teachers to devote virtually all classroom time and resources to preparing students for the standardized test. This phenomenon is called "teaching to the test." Proponents of high-stakes testing respond that that is exactly as it should be. They argue that the tests measure success in teaching the curriculum and so "teaching to the test" is "teaching to the curriculum." And after all, isn't that what we want teachers to do? The kinds of problems that can appear on a standardized test are, of course, quite limited in form and complexity, as the student is allocated only a minute or two to complete each one. If the intellectual processes required to solve a really complicated problem are not essentially the same as those required to solve these simpler problems, then a student prepared only to solve standardized test problems could well lack the mental preparation required to attack really hard problems. As a model for evaluating whether teachers should teach to the test, we should use something more typical of the kind of everyday problems that concern us as workers or parents or citizens. The author sees the obsession with standardized tests in Darwinian terms. We are in effect putting our kids (and their teachers!) on an isolated atoll under the evolutionary force of a strange selection process based on standardized tests. The inevitable product of this process is a species that is as custom-engineered as any carbon-based life form can be to solve trivial problems. Like most exotic species, this one is unlikely to be able to adapt to and compete in the larger world. The irony is that it is unlikely to prevail even in its chosen niche, where the fittest survivors will most likely be made of silicon. Descriptors: Standardized Tests, Public Education, Achievement Tests, Academic Achievement
(2004). Accountability in a Postdesegregation Era: The Continuing Significance of Racial Segregation in Florida's Schools, American Educational Research Journal. In the wake of both the end of court-ordered school desegregation and the growing popularity of accountability as a mechanism to maximize student achievement, the authors explore the association between racial segregation and the percentage of students passing high-stakes tests in Florida's schools. Results suggest that segregation matters in predicting school-level performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test after control for other known and purported predictors of standardized test performance. Also, these results suggest that neither recent efforts by the state of Florida to equalize the funding of education nor current efforts involving high-stakes testing will close the Black-White achievement gap without consideration of the racial distribution of students across schools. [More] Descriptors: Standardized Tests, School Desegregation, Racial Segregation, Racial Distribution
(2003). The Use of Academic Achievement Tests and Measurements with American Indian and Alaska Native Students. ERIC Digest. This digest focuses on academic testing and American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students. Ideally, test results should be used to improve student learning. Proponents of high-stakes testing say it is needed to measure student achievement and school quality and to hold students and teachers accountable. High-stakes testing is also used to publicly compare schools and districts; to determine entrance into particular programs, schools, or colleges; as criteria for promotion or graduation; and to make decisions about resource allocation. Opponents of testing argue that current testing programs do not provide valid or reliable information, especially for low-income and minority students, and have unintended, negative consequences. Nationally, AI/AN students have scored well below White and other minority groups of students on standardized tests of reading, language, and mathematics. Testing of AI/AN students has been a concern for years, as AI/AN cultures and languages were long considered obstacles to achievement, and the performance of White students was the benchmark for all. Standardized tests fail to consider the vast diversity of AI/AN languages and cultures, leading to serious issues regarding cultural bias, content comparability, norming of tests, and test validity. Other issues include environmental factors; student physical or emotional health; risk-taking behaviors of youth; and poorly funded, low-quality schools serving AI/AN students. Nine strategies are listed for improving test scores of special populations, including AI/AN students. [More] Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Accountability, American Indian Education, American Indian Students
(2004). Against the Undertow: Language-Minority Education Policy and Politics in the "Age of Accountability", Educational Policy. This article reviews historical and contemporary policies, ideologies, and educational prescriptions for language-minority students. It notes language and literacy policies historically have been used as instruments of social control and that racism and linguistic intolerance have often been closely linked with antecedents in the colonial and early nationalist periods as well as in nativist thought of the 19th century. The article concludes that the contemporary English-only and antibilingual education movements share features reminiscent of the restrictionism of earlier periods. The article next assesses policies of the federal and state governments in accommodating language-minority students. Current debates over appropriate assessment of language-minority students are backgrounded against the history of the testing movement. Recent research on high-stakes testing is reviewed with the conclusion that it is not improving the quality of teaching and learning and appears to be having a negative effect for language-minority students. [More] Descriptors: Ideology, Testing, Social Control, High Stakes Tests
(2007). Reading Assessment: A Primer for Teachers and Coaches. Second Edition. Solving Problems in the Teaching of Literacy, Guilford Publications. Now in a revised and expanded second edition, this invaluable book provides teachers and coaches with the information and tools they need to get started on the complex process of reading assessment. Grounded in a solid scientific framework, the book presents practical strategies that enable teachers to recognize "good reader" behaviors, assess students' strengths and weaknesses, analyze the evidence collected, and make instructional decisions. The second edition has been thoroughly updated throughout. It also covers new tools for assessing early literacy, offering guidelines for choosing among them; considers the pros and cons of high-stakes testing; and presents alternatives to standardized measures. Numerous examples, professional development activities, and reproducibles enhance the utility of this ideal classroom resource and text. This book is organized into the following chapters: (1) Overview of the Reading Process: What Do Good Readers Do, and How Do Teachers and Coaches Assess This? (2) Assessment as Part of Instruction: How Can We Assess as We Teach? (3) The Informal Reading Inventory Process: How Does It Address the Four Purposes of Reading Assessment? (4) Early Literacy: What Do We Need to Know about Beginning Readers? (5) Word Identification: How Can We Assess a Student's Word Identification Ability? (6) Reading Fluency: How Can We Assess Reading Fluency? (7) Comprehension of Words and Text: How Can We Assess Understanding of Words and Text? (8) Motivation: What Makes Students Want to Read, and How Can We Assess This? (9) Standardized Tests: What Do They Tell Us about Reading Performance? and (10) Schoolwide Reading Assessment: How Can We Collect, Organize, and Present Classroom Data? The following are also included: (1) General Summary: Assessing the Good Reader Behaviors; and (2) Overview of Published Literacy Assessments. [More] Descriptors: Standardized Tests, Beginning Reading, Reading Fluency, Reading Processes
(2004). New Jersey Teachers Believe Testing Compromises Sound Practices, ERS Spectrum. Educators make decisions on how they are going to approach teaching and learning based on the goals they are required, or hope, to attain. In many cases, when high-stakes tests are utilized to determine whether a curriculum has been taught and students have mastered it, the curriculum and teaching are so aligned with testing objectives that the test in effect becomes the curriculum. Under the auspices of Montclair State University's College of Education and Human Services, this comprehensive study endeavored to ascertain the quality and scope of instruction pupils receive in New Jersey's public schools in the current era of high-stakes testing. The study demonstrated that a vast majority of the state's teachers are concerned with the negative impact they believe statewide testing is having on teaching methods, learning activities, and assessment procedures currently utilized in New Jersey schools. [More] Descriptors: Testing, High Stakes Tests, Teaching Methods, Learning Activities
(2001). Consequences of High Stakes Testing on the Literacy Programs of High-Performing Learning Communities. The consequences of high-stakes testing environments on the overall literacy programs and student achievement in high-performing learning communities were studied through a questionnaire completed by 20 elementary, middle, and high school principals in high-performing learning communities in a large state. Interviews and site visits were also held with two principals at each educational level. Data also included information from a school/university collaborative. Responses identified key elements in success in high performing learning communities and barriers perceived by administrators and teachers to academic achievement. The study also identified unintended consequences of high stakes testing, including negative reactions by students and teachers and lower than expected achievement scores by students. Also identified were common factors among schools that scored well on assessment measures regardless of economic or ethnic factors. The principal questionnaire is attached. (Contains 23 references.) [More] Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Elementary Secondary Education, High Achievement, High Stakes Tests