Bibliography: High Stakes Testing (page 71 of 95)

This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices.  Some of the authors featured on this page include Richard J. Prystowsky, Angela Valenzuela, Richard P. Phelps, Dan Laitsch, Theresa Lewallen, Anita Courtney, Laura Alamillo, Shelby J. Barrentine, Nancy Lopez, and Charlie Miles.

Valenzuela, Angela (2000). The Significance of the TAAS Test for Mexican Immigrant and Mexican American Adolescents: A Case Study, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. A 3-year case study of a Houston (Texas) high school demonstrates that high stakes testing is an alienating feature of schooling. The need to pass the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills to graduate discourages many Mexican American and immigrant Mexican students from completing high school or considering college. The English-only nature of the test is problematic. Descriptors: Case Studies, Graduation Requirements, High School Students, High Schools

Courtney, Anita (2005). Teaching Relaxation Skills in Physical Education, Teaching Elementary Physical Education. "Stressed out" has become a way of life for many Americans. For children, stress comes from a variety of situations such as bullying, divorce, high stakes testing, and peer pressure. Because many children are not exposed to stress management techniques, stressful situations often result in unhealthy coping mechanisms such as overeating, "acting out," and substance abuse behaviors. Relaxation activities can be taught to provide students with methods of coping with these situations in a healthy manner. These strategies can then be used during school, outside of school, and throughout life. In fact, children who participate in relaxation activities during school experience reduced blood pressure and heart rate and self-report improvements in feelings of calmness and physical well-being (Lohaus & Klein-Hebling, 2000). As physical educators continue to emphasize healthy lifestyles, relaxation activities can be added to the list of healthy lifestyle skills taught during physical education.  Relaxation activities require a minimal amount of time in physical education. When taught periodically throughout the curriculum, these activities can provide students with techniques for coping with stress. This article focuses on practical tips and activities to help maximize the effectiveness of teaching relaxation to elementary and middle school students.   [More]  Descriptors: Physical Education, Relaxation Training, Coping, Stress Management

Prystowsky, Richard J.; Miles, Charlie (2000). Democracy and Hope in Public Education: An Interview with Herbert Kohl, Paths of Learning: Options for Families & Communities. Author and advocate for public school reform Herbert Kohl discusses vouchers; charter schools; home schooling; national academic standards; high stakes testing; the role of the arts, storytelling, and fun in education; countering school failure; and the importance of developing teacher communities that cut across public, private, and home school labels. That democracy should be for everybody informs all his comments. Descriptors: Charter Schools, Democracy, Disadvantaged Youth, Economically Disadvantaged

Lopez, Nancy (2000). The Missing Link: Latinos and Educational Opportunity Programs, Equity & Excellence in Education. Using Massachusetts as a case study, calls into question some of the common sense approaches to education reform and discusses how political-economic ideologies embedded in high-stakes testing adversely affect Latinos and obfuscate the growing social inequalities in U.S. society. Argues that educational opportunity programs are the missing link for Latinos and other stigmatized communities. Descriptors: Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education, High Stakes Tests, Hispanic American Students

Paterson , Jim (2005). Reflections on Courageous Leadership, National Middle School Association (NJ1). Middle level educators can't always define it succinctly, but they know courageous, collaborative leadership when they see it. Examples of courageous leadership can range from a cancer-stricken teacher who inspires a whole school, to an educator who makes little strides by modeling the art of "hanging out" for students for whom social interaction is an anxiety-laden mystery. Courage is evident in teachers and administrators who fight in big struggles to keep schools adhering to the important tenets of middle school philosophy and to the goals of education they believe in. This article presents many examples of courage as a quality inherent in the very essence of being an educator, especially in a profession that is not always supported by the public. Teacher and administrator Donald Clark lists four things that comprise courageous leadership in a school: (1) Maintaining a commitment to the middle level concept in spite of pressure of accountability and high stakes testing; (2) Monitoring the instruction in the classroom and taking action when it is inferior, making sure effective professional development is in place and ineffective teachers are removed; (3) Sharing leadership with teachers and parents; and (4) Reflecting on teaching and the curriculum. Clark states that "in a typical school culture of teacher isolation it takes courage to be in a team that regularly observes each member teach and offers critiques on instructional improvement."   [More]  Descriptors: Leadership Styles, Instructional Leadership, Interpersonal Relationship, Instructional Improvement

Shepard, Lorrie A. (2003). The Hazards of High-Stakes Testing, Issues in Science and Technology. Recounts historical experience with testing efforts. Recommends that in any testing program, the limitations of testing must be kept in mind in order for the tests to benefit student achievement. Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Cognitive Processes, Cognitive Psychology, Elementary Secondary Education

Barrentine, Shelby J., Ed.; Stokes, Sandra M., Ed. (2005). Reading Assessment: Principles and Practices for Elementary Teachers. Second Edition, International Reading Association (NJ3). How do teachers respond to the competing pressures of school accountability, high-stakes testing, classroom assessment and instruction? This updated collection of articles from The Reading Teacher can help. Readers will find tools for: (1) Building school assessment policies; (2) Helping students succeed on high-stakes tests; (3) Using assessment to inform instruction; (4) Drawing students into the assessment process; and (5) Choosing assessment protocols for individual students or groups of students. A list of articles for further reading and IRA's position on High Stakes Testing will further broaden knowledge bases of assessment issues. Following the Acknowledgments; and the Introduction, and High Stakes Assessments in Reading: A Position Statement of the International Reading Association, Section One, Foundations of Reading Assessment, contains the following articles: (1) Effective Instruction Begins With Purposeful Assessments (Charlene Cobb); (2) Literacy Assessment Reform: Shifting Beliefs, Principled Possibilities, and Emerging Practices (Robert J. Tierney); and (3) Early Literacy Assessment-Thoughtful, Sensible, and Good (Kathleen A. Roskos). Section 2, Equity and Diversity in Reading Assessment contains the following: (1) More Equitable Literacy Assessments for Latino Students (Robert T. Jimenez); (2) Equity and Performance-Based Assessment: An Insider's View (Marsha' Taylor DeLain); (3) International Assessments of Reading Literacy (Gerry Shiel, Judith Cosgrove); and (4) The Evils of the Use of IQ Tests to Define Learning Disabilities in First-and Second-Language Learners (Lee Gunderson, Linda S. Siegel). Section Three, Gaining Perspective, contains the following: (1) Assessment Conversations (Peter Johnston); (2) Reconciling Polarity: Toward a Responsive Model of Evaluating Literacy Performance (Kathleen A. Hinchman, Pamela A. Michel); (3) Three Paradigms of Assessment: Measurement, Procedure, and Inquiry (Frank Serafini) and (4) Changing Attitudes on Assessment (Bonita L. Wilcox). Section 4, Negotiating the Influence of High Stakes Testing contains: (1) Testing a Texas Mama (Loraine H. Phillips); (2) High-Stakes Testing in Reading: Today in Texas, Tomorrow? (James V. Hoffman, Lori Czop Assaf, Scott G. Paris); (3) The Press to Test (Jo Worthy, James V. Hoffman); (4) Enhancing Self-Efficacy for High-Stakes Reading Tests (Patrick P. McCabe); (5) Behind Test Scores: What Struggling Readers Really Need (Sheila W. Valencia, Marsha Riddle Buly); and (6) Red Light, Green Light, 1-2-3: Tasks to Prepare for Standardized Tests (Kathleen M. Lawrence). Section Five, The Assessment-Instruction-Assessment Cycle, contains the following: (1) Noticing and Responding to Learners: Literacy Evaluation and Instruction in the Primary Grades (Karen R. West); (2) Focused Anecdotal Records Assessment: A Tool for Standards-Based, Authentic Assessment (Paul Boyd-Batstone); (3) Reading With Amy: Teaching and Learning Through Reading Conferences (Sharon Ruth Gill); (4) FAQs about IRIs (Scott G. Paris, Robert D. Carpenter); (5) Measuring Children's Reading Development Using Leveled Tests (Scott G. Paris); (6) Miscue Analysis in the Classroom (Lynn K. Rhodes, Nancy L. Shanklin); and (7) Nathan: A Case Study in Reader Response and Retrospective Miscue Analysis (Rita A. Moore, Karen L. Brantingham). Section Six, Involving Students in Assessment, contains the following: (1) Diagnostic-Reflective Portfolios (Ann M. Courtney, Theresa L. Abodeeb); (2) We Can Charts: Building Blocks for Student-Led Conferences (JoAnn V. Cleland); (3) Student-Generated Rubrics: Bringing Students Into the Assessment Process (Mary Jo Skillings, Robbin Ferrell); and (4) Performance Assessments in Reading and Language Arts (John T. Guthrie, Peggy Van Meter, Ann Mitchell). Section Seven, Formal Assessment Tools contains the following: (1) Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL): Individualized Early Literacy Instruction With a Standards-Based Rating Tool (David K. Dickinson, Allyssa McCabe, Kim Sprague); (2) A Test for Assessing Phonemic Awareness in Young Children (Hallie Kay Yopp); (3) Tile Test: A Hands-On Approach for Assessing Phonics in the Early Grades (Kimberly A. Norman, Robert C. Calfee); (4) Measuring Attitude Toward Reading: A New Tool for Teachers (Michael C. McKenna, Dennis J. Kear) and (5) The Reader Self-Perception Scale (RSPS): A New Tool for Measuring How Children Feel About Themselves as Readers (William A. Henk, Steven A. Melnick ). The following are appended: (1) Culminating Activity and Self-Assessment Rubric. A subject index is also included.   [More]  Descriptors: Testing, Reading, Reading Tests, Elementary Education

Laitsch, Dan; Lewallen, Theresa; McCloskey, Molly (2005). A Framework for Education in the 21st Century. The Whole Child. Info Brief. Number 40, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) believes that education policy and practice must be based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the learning needs of the whole child. This approach ensures education excellence and equity for each student–especially those from underserved populations. Meeting the needs of the whole child means providing a balanced curriculum, linking health needs with learning expectations, and ensuring fair and comprehensive assessments. ASCD's focus on the whole child is derived from four positions adopted by the ASCD Leadership Council in 2004. These four positions are high-stakes testing, the achievement gap, health and learning, and the whole child. These positions were adopted against the backdrop of the current environment of high-stakes, punitive accountability that pushes educators to narrow the curriculum at the expense of the needs of the whole child. Addressing the needs of students is a moral imperative that must not be ignored, even though such a broad, whole-child view of education places added responsibilities on teachers, schools, policymakers, and the larger community. Meeting these needs requires a conscious effort by educators, policymakers, and the general public to create and sustain schools in which all members of the school community develop ethically, physically, emotionally, and civically–as well as academically.   [More]  Descriptors: Curriculum Development, Health Needs, High Stakes Tests, Educational Change

Gardiner, Steve (2005). Building Student Literacy through Sustained Silent Reading, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Find out how a simple and inexpensive program of sustained silent reading–where students read independently during class time–can be a sure-fire way to improve student vocabulary development, literacy skills, and background knowledge. Teacher-author Steve Gardiner updates you on the research studies that validate sustained silent reading as a successful way to help build the literacy skills of students at all ability levels, including English as a Second Language (ESL) students. With lots of classroom anecdotes, practical tips, and testimony from students, parents, and fellow teachers, this book gives you all the ideas and advice you need to get started: (1) Why sustained silent reading belongs in a high-stakes testing school environment; (2) What students should read and how much time to allocate for reading; (3) How a sustained silent reading program promotes five essential reading skills; (4) Ways to make students accountable for what they read without adding to your paperwork; (5) Steps to starting and running a sustained silent reading program; (6) Tips for helping students who are struggling with sustained silent reading; and (7) Ideas for connecting sustained silent reading to teaching writing.   [More]  Descriptors: Sustained Silent Reading, Reading Programs, High Stakes Tests, Literacy

Gulek, Cengiz (2003). Preparing for High-Stakes Testing, Theory into Practice. Describes how to prepare students for high stakes tests in ways that do not detract from real learning, noting the need for teachers to take charge of the assessment process by becoming assessment literate. This means becoming informed as to what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate uses of test results and staying apprised of the latest research on how students learn and how to best assess what they know. Descriptors: Accountability, Elementary Secondary Education, Evaluation Methods, High Stakes Tests

Phelps, Richard P. (2005). The Source of Lake Wobegon, Online Submission. John J. Cannell's late 1980s "Lake Wobegon" reports suggested widespread deliberate educator manipulation of norm-referenced standardized test (NRT) administrations and results, resulting in artificial test score gains. The Cannell studies have been referenced in education research since, but as evidence that high stakes (and not cheating or lax security) cause test score inflation. This article examines that research and Cannell's data for evidence that high stakes cause test score inflation. No such evidence is found. Indeed, the evidence indicates that, if anything, the absence of high stakes is associated with artificial test score gains. The variable most highly correlated with test score inflation is general performance on achievement tests, with traditionally low-performing states exhibiting more test score inflation–on low-stakes norm-referenced tests–than traditionally high-performing states, regardless of whether or not a state also maintains a high-stakes testing program. The unsupported high-stakes-cause-test-score-inflation hypothesis seems to derive from the surreptitious substitution of an antiquated definition of the term "high stakes" and a few studies afflicted with left-out-variable bias.   [More]  Descriptors: Testing Programs, Achievement Gains, Standardized Tests, Norm Referenced Tests

Rosenshine, Barak (2003). High-Stakes Testing: Another Analysis, Education Policy Analysis Archives. Reanalyzed data evaluated by A. Amrein and D. Berliner, using a comparison group of states that did not attach consequences to their statewide tests. States that did attach consequences outperformed states that did not, showing meaningful carryover from attaching consequences to statewide testing. Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Achievement Tests, Comparative Analysis, Elementary Secondary Education

Alamillo, Laura; Viramontes, Celia (2000). Reflections from the Classroom: Teacher Perspectives on the Implementation of Proposition 227, Bilingual Research Journal. Interviews with 77 California teachers who either continued teaching bilingual education, switched to English immersion, or continued teaching English immersion sought their perspectives on impacts of Proposition 227 to the teaching profession, instructional practices, students, school culture, and teacher relationships. Implementation of Proposition 227, high stakes testing, and increased accountability created a tense and demoralizing environment for teachers. Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Collegiality, Educational Change, Educational Environment

Suen, Hoi K.; Yu, Lan (2006). Chronic Consequences of High-Stakes Testing? Lessons from the Chinese Civil Service Exam, Comparative Education Review. In the field of educational assessment, the "validity of assessment" can be defined as the degree to which evidence and theory support the interpretations of test scores that are entailed by proposed uses of the test. Many concerns have arisen over what is termed the "consequential basis" of validity, the intended and unintended social consequences of testing. In this article, the authors review the long history of the Keju exam system, that became central in a government-orchestrated system of high-stakes employment testing, education testing, and test-driven education. The authors find that problems such as memorizing and reproducing model performances, focusing on test-taking skills, cheating, and psychopathological effects, are the same problems recurred throughout the ages. Rater effects were largely controlled through a number of procedural designs. However, repeated attempts to control other sources of irrelevance led to these problems mutating to different forms. The authors suggest that test theorists and psychometricians need to develop appropriate and realistic models of scoring or of the use of assessment results in which such chronic consequential factors are accepted as inevitable components of the score or of the system. From the perspective of policy decisions, it does not appear that the solution will be found in designing procedures to stop such chronic problems. Rather, it will most likely come from taking measures to minimize the stakes of tests.   [More]  Descriptors: Educational Assessment, Validity, Testing, High Stakes Tests

Smits, Hans (2000). Globalization and Education: Exploring Pedagogical and Curricular Issues and Implications. Introductory Essay, Alberta Journal of Educational Research. A continuation of colonialism, globalization's narrow focus on economics and free-market thinking reinforces modernist rationality and individualism and discounts how deeply all life is interconnected. Its effects on education are reflected in high stakes testing, emphasis on information technologies, and a discounting of non-Western cultures. Globalization in education is an ethical issue that is both local and global. Descriptors: Colonialism, Educational Practices, Elementary Secondary Education, Ethics

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