High Stakes Testing

Paper Summary:

In this essay, the writer explains that high stakes testing is the development of a movement in education and elsewhere to improve outcomes of student learning in a quantitative manner. The writer notes that the No Child Left Behind Act has created a legalized enforcement system that raises the stakes of high stakes testing to new levels and places significant demands on educators and students. Further, the writer points out that even with the controversy already surrounding the practice of high stakes testing, it has been adopted as the standard guide to reformation and change and will likely continue to be questioned as a viable assessment tool. The writer concludes that the validity of single aspect assessment is clearly in question, from the top of the chain of command to the youngest student struggling with test material and lecture based curriculum, devoid of creativity.

From the Paper:

"Many new teachers find that they have not been adequately trained for the high stakes testing dominated environments that they are now teaching in. New teachers may also find that the lack of creativity in their lesson plans due to a highly regimented approach of teaching to the high stakes test to be unrewarding. Adding to the list of reasons cited for leaving the profession, in the very near future will likely be the pressures of high stakes testing, and this does not include only new teachers, as even seasoned professionals are leaving due to these same pressures combined with the changes in autonomy and voice that accompanies high stakes testing."
"Curriculum loss can also be a direct result of the embracing of high stakes testing assessments as teachers tend to alter teaching plans and curriculum to meet the demands of the test material. Test material is especially devoid of creative materials and in an already challenged environment creative options may be lost in the process, including funding cuts for programs that broaden the minds of students, such as art and music, but do not test well."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Costigan, Arthur T. (Winter 2002). Teaching the Culture of High Stakes Testing: Listening to New Teachers. Action in Teacher Education, v. 23 no4, 28-34. Retrieved October 31, 2006, from First Search: WilsonSelectPlus.
• Edwords, Fred. (May/June 2005). The Issue at Hand. The Humanist, v. 65 no3, 3. Retrieved October 31, 2006, from First Search: WilsonSelectPlus.
• Johnson, Dale D., & Johnson, Bonnie. (2006). High Stakes: Poverty, Testing, and Failure in American Schools (2nd ed). Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Jones, Brett D. & Egley, Robert J. (June 2006). Looking Through Different Lenses: Teachers' and Administrators' Views of Accountability. Phi Delta Kappan, v. 87 no10, 767-71. Retrieved October 31, 2006, from First Search: WilsonSelectPlus.
• Lederman, Leon M. & Burnstein, Ray A. (Feb. 2006). Alternative Approaches to High-Stakes Testing. Phi Delta Kappan, v. 87 no6, 429-32. Retrieved October 31, 2006, from First Search: WilsonSelectPlus.

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