Study: high-stakes tests have no effect on achievement.A recently released national study conducted by professors at Arizona State and the University of Texas at San Antonio The main campus is situated on 600 acres (2.4 km²,) at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Loop 1604 near the northern edge of San Antonio, Texas in Bexar County. The university is also one of the UT System's fastest growing schools, maintaining a 12. found no evidence linking high-stakes testing A high-stakes test is an assessment which has important consequences for the test taker. If the examinee passes the test, then the examinee may receive significant benefits, such as a high school diploma or a license to practice law. pressure with student achievement. In addition, the results indicate that increases in testing pressure actually lead to higher dropout (1) On magnetic media, a bit that has lost its strength due to a surface defect or recording malfunction. If the bit is in an audio or video file, it might be detected by the error correction circuitry and either corrected or not, but if not, it is often not noticed by the human rates. "Today's students are being trained to take a test rather than being educated to solve the problems that those tests are supposed to represent," says David Berliner David C. Berliner is an educational psychologist and professor of education at Arizona State University. Berliner received a Doctorate of Education from Stanford University. , an author of the study. "These tests are turning kids into the kind of rote rote 1 n. 1. A memorizing process using routine or repetition, often without full attention or comprehension: learn by rote. 2. Mechanical routine. learners we laughed about in countries like India and Japan." To conduct the study, the researchers developed a pressure index for each state, based on the amount of pressure in its accountability system. Next, they determined whether a relationship could be established between pressure and student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "the Nation's Report Card," is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. . "As a result of high-stakes testing, the curriculum is narrowed and dropout rates are higher," says Teri Moblo, director of the Great Lakes Great Lakes, group of five freshwater lakes, central North America, creating a natural border between the United States and Canada and forming the largest body of freshwater in the world, with a combined surface area of c.95,000 sq mi (246,050 sq km). Center for Education Research & Practice, the think tank that commissioned this study. Moblo says there is a role for these tests, along with other ways to evaluate students. Sharon Nichols, a co-author of the study, agrees that we need to find additional methods for assessment. "The single test-score process doesn't pay attention to the process of learning, different forms of learning or knowledge application," she says. Rather than looking at a group snapshot every year, she'd like to follow individual students. "We need to get into the school climate and hold teachers accountable to themselves in a fair way," she says. THREE KEY FINDINGS 1. States with greater proportions of minority students tend to implement accountability systems that exert greater pressure. 2. Increased testing pressure is related to increased retention and dropout rates. 3. NAEP NAEP National Assessment of Educational Progress NAEP National Association of Environmental Professionals NAEP National Association of Educational Progress NAEP National Agricultural Extension Policy NAEP Native American Employment Program reading scores at the fourth- and eighth-grade levels were not improved as a result of increased testing pressure. www.greatlakescenter.org Pressure Comparisons Across the States (On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being highest) Texas 4.78 N.C. 4.14 N.Y. 4.08 Miss. 3.82 La. 3.72 Tenn. 3.50 Ga. 3.44 Ariz. 3.36 N.M. 3.28 S.C. 3.20 Mass. 3.18 W.Va. 3.08 Va. 3.08 Ala. 3.06 Md. 2.82 Utah 2.80 Ark. 2.60 Calif. 2.56 Mo. 2.14 R.I. 1.90 Maine 1.78 Hawaii 1.76 Conn. 1.60 Wyo. 1.00 Ky. 0.54 |
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