Date post: | 15-Jul-2015 |
Category: |
Education |
Upload: | mark-castro |
View: | 92 times |
Download: | 2 times |
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)