high stakes testing

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Jason Pesante Rectin CMT-A

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Jason Pesante Rectin CMT-A

High-stakes testing as the use of a test or an assessment to make

decisions that are of prominent educational,

financial, or social impact.

Some examples of important decisions that are made

on high-stakes tests include whether

A student will be promoted to the next grade,

A student will receive a high school diploma,

Schools are classified as unacceptable, acceptable,

or exemplary in terms of their educational

performance,

Schools, principals, or teachers receive financial or

other incentives, or penalties, based on student

performance on a high-stakes test,

A state educational agency or a private corporation

takes over the administrative control of local schools,

and

Principals, teachers, or other schools staff are

reassinged to other schools or are offered

employment contract renewal.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed in

2002, after all 50 states and the District of Columbia

developed state HST programs

Although there are similarities between NCLB and

state HST programs there also are important

differences. “NCLB is about much more than HST,

but HST is a part of NCLB”

By contrast,

- NCLB did not exist until 2002 because HST existed

before NCLB

The Architects of NCLB:

- both practical and political reasons, gave the

states the authority to select the tests and

assessments that would be used to meet federals

NCLB accountability requirements

- state opted to use the same measures they are

already using their HST programs to meet NCLB

accountability requirements.

As a result, when annual assessments are discussed,

they may be referred to in the context of NCLB

requirements, state requirements, or both.

How results are reported can also be confusing.Both NCLB and many state HST programs require that

public “report cards” be issued annually that

describe the performance of the students on the

annual assessment.

NCLB

- these reports must include overall performance by

grades level.

- the results must also disaggregated, or broken

down, to show performance differences among

economically disadvantaged students, ethnic

minorities, limited English proficient (LEP) students,

and students with disabilities

High-stakes testing

- may or may not report their scores this way.

- these report cards also are used to rank schools

under NCLB, and under most states HST programs,

into categories that range from “low performing” to

“exceptional” based on whether student

achievement meets specified proficiency levels.

Proficiency Criteria of NCLB and High-stakes testing.

Under NCLB, if a school fails to meet the state

proficiency criteria two or more years in row, states

must impose increasingly serious consequences on

the school

Under HST, may require that certain levels proficiency

are necessary for students to be promoted to next

grade, for students to graduate from high school, for

educators to receive salary increases or bonuses, or,

if criteria are not meet, for authorities to take over

schools or reassign school staff to other schools

Although controversy regarding the use of tests to

make decisions about promotion, retention, and

financial incentives or penalties for school staff is

often attributed to NCLB, these are not NCLB

requirements---they arise from HST programs

requirements

It may help to keep in mind that when NCLB was

passed in 2002 states were faced with the challenge

of quickly meeting the law’s accountability

requirements.

Since all states already had HST programs in place,

most states adopted their state assessments and

adapted their school report cards to meet both NCLB

and state HST requirements rather than start from

scratch.

Not all state HST assessments and programs are of

equivalent quality. So the extent to which state HST

programs will fulfill the intent of NCLB and meet their

own state requirements remains to be seen.

HST is contoversial but is now widespread.

With the possible exception of NCLB, there is no

development during the last decade that has

generated more contoversy among educators than

high-stakes testing (HST) movement, which spread

to every state in the nation by 2002. And the

controversy is not limited to educators.

Now vital for teachers to be informed about because

teachers today are increasingly affected by their

phenomenom. HST test results can potentially affect

their carrers as well as futures of their students

High-stakes tests, like other tests, are only tools and

their usefulness depends on how well constructed

they are and whether they are used and interpreted

appropriately.

High-stakes test are carefully constructed,

administered, and scored.

We believe that some high-stakes tests or tools may

be better planned, develop, and implemented than

others. In other words, we believe that some high-

stakes tests may be better than others, and some

may be used more appropriately than others.

A test’s usefulness can vary depending on the purpose of testing and the characteristics of the person the test is administered to.

No test can be a “one size fits all” test that is equally suitable for all purpose (e.g assessing academic proficiency of regular and special education students, and evaluating teachers and curricula) and for all students.

We believe high-stakes tests are potentially useful. But we also have concerns about the way some high-stakes test have been develop and the way some of these tools have been used.

The impact of promotion and graduation decisions on

the studenst and their families is both significant and

controversial. Using test data to inform these

decisions is usually not controversial in and of itself.

What is controversial is that

(a) In many HST programs these decisions are based

entirely, or in large part, on the results of a single

test

(b) Many people question whether high-stakes tests

are valid measures of learning

For example, let’s consider the use of a high-stakes

test instead of a report card for promotion decisions.

The use of high-stakes tests for promotion decisions

has been recommended to combat social promotion.

Social promotion is the tendency to promote students

with academic skills deficits to the next grade to

keep them with same-aged peers to offset presumed

damage to self-esteem and social development.

When high-stakes tests are used, the promotion

decision is determined by an objective “snapshot” of

the student’s achievement obtained from the test

(i.e., a test score) rather than on a more

comprehensive but potentially more subjective

series of grades and ratings on a report card.

This high-stakes promotion model greatly simplifies

the decision-making process—those who score high

enough are promoted, those who do not are

retained.

High-Stakes Test Model Report Card Model

Source(s) of Data A high-stakes test Multiple teacher constructed

tests, projects, homework

and seatwork, observations,

attendance, and other data

Basis for the promotion

decision

Score on the high-stakes

test

Scores and ratings on tests,

projects, homework and

seatwork, observation of

social and emotional

development, maturity,

citizenship, attendance, and

other data

Objectivity of the decision High—based solely on the

score

Variable—grades and

ratings may require

judgements and may be

influence by a variety of

non-achievement factors

Incentives (i.e., rewards and penalties) for principals,

teachers, schools, and school districts have also

been attached to high-stakes test results to motivate

school staff to encourage and prepare students to do

well on high-stakes tests.

As we discussed earlier, school and school district

performance is reported by the state via school

“report cards” with financial and other incentives

provided for schools, educators, and districts that do

well on the high-stakes test.

School performance is also reported to the public

through the media, so that high or low performimg

schools are either applauded or chastised in the

court of public opinion.

Where unacceptable performance continues from year

to year the school staff may be “reconstituted.” this

means the principal and all or part of the existing

school staff are reassigned, or their contracts are not

renewed, and the school is then restaffed. The

principle of reconstitution is based on the

controversial belief that such massive restructuring

will break the cycle of low expectatios and low

achivement for the school’s pupils

The impacts of HST has been felt outside the schools,and it has also become a popular political issue.

High-stakes test results are now widely anticipated bythe public and are reported regularly in the media.As a result of this widespread media coverage, HSTresults now influence real estate values and evenbusiness decisions.

Example:“Real estate values tend to increase in areas where

high-stakes tests indicate that students areperforming well, as a result of increased demand forhousing in these areas by parents with school-agedchildren, and vice versa.”

High-stakes test results are also considered by

business executives when they decide to relocate or

expand their operations.

Business executives realize that it will be easier for

them to attract qualified employees if the local

schools have records of high achievement on high-

stakes tests.

HST has also become a part of state and national

political campaigns.

HST was a prominent part of President George W.

Bush’s election campaign in 2000.

HST became a cornerstone of the No Child Left

Behind (NCLB) Act that was signed into law in

January 2002 following significant advocacy by

President Bush.

NCLB assessment requirements were modeled closely

after the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills

(TAAS) HST programs that President George W.

Bush promoted when he was governor of Texas.

The TAAS was the cornerstone of student, teacher,

and school accountability in Texas from 1994 to

2003, when it was replaced by a more difficult high-

stakes test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge

and Skills (TAKS)