Thursday, February 16, 2012

High-Stakes Testing

Question: What are the assumptions of supporters of high-stakes testing?

Answer: “In their book Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America’s Schools” (3007) Sharon L Nichols and David C. Berliner present a list of flawed arguments put forward by NCLB (No Child Left Behind) supporters. We present some of them here:

> “Students work harder and learn more when they have to take high-stakes tests.

> “Students will be motivated to do their best and score well on high-stakes tests.

> “Scoring well on high-stakes tests leads to feeling of success by students, while doing poorly on such tests leads to increased efforts to learn.

> “Students and teachers need high-stakes tests to know what is important to teach and to learn.

> “Teachers need to be held accountable through high-stakes tests to motivate them to teach better and to push the lazy ones to work harder.

> “The high-stakes tests associated with NCLB are good measures of the curricula taught in schools.

> “The high-stakes tests provide a kind of level playing field, an equal opportunity for all students to demonstrate their knowledge and skill.

> “Teachers use the results of high-stakes tests to help provide better instruction to students. “
P, 94,

Comment: Are these assumptions true in your schools? RayS.

Title: “Editorial: Opening the Conversation: NCLB 10 Years Later.” Leslie S rush and Lisa Scherff. English Education (January 2012), 91-101.

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