Chapter 2: High-Stakes Testing

By: Zenaida A. Halina

Comparing And Contrasting NCLB And State High-stakes

Testing Program

• By 2002 HST programs had spread to all 50 states and the District of Columbia (Doherty, 2002).• By contrast, NCLB did not exist

until 2002.

• In many cases, states opted to use the same measures they were already using for their HST programs to meet NCLB accountability requirements, effectively “killing two birds with one stone”. As a result, when annual assessments are discussed, they may be referred to in the context of NCLB requirements, state requirements, or both.

• Both NCLB and many state HST programs require that public

“report cards” be issued annually that describe the

performance of students on the annual assessment.

• Beyond the NCLB proficiency criteria, states may establish additional proficiency criteria that drive other decisions not directly related to NCLB.

High-stakes Testing: A Nationwide Phenomenon

• there is no development during the last decade that has generated more controversy among educators than the high-stakes testing movement, which spread to every state in the nation by 2002 (Doherty, 2002).

• Depending on the source, you may hear that high-stakes tests are the greatest thing since sliced bread or that high-stakes tests are the work of the devil.

High-stakes Tests Are Only Tools

• Like any other tests, high-stakes tests are only tool, and the way a tool is constructed can limit its usefulness.

• Furthermore, even well constructed tools can be used effectively, ineffectively, or abused.

• Test usefulness can vary depending on the purpose of testing and the characteristics of the persons the test is administered to.

• No test can be a “one size fits all” test that is equally suitable for all purposes.

What Is High-stake Testing And Why Does It Matter?

• We define high-stake testing as “the use of the test or an assessment to make decisions that are of prominent educational, financial, or social impact.”

• 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 high-stake test,

• A state educational agency or a private corporation takes over the administrative control of local schools, and

• Principals, teachers, or other school staff are reassigned to other schools or are offered employment contract renewal.

The History Of High-stakes Testing

• Academic Standards• Performance Standards• Alignment of High-Stakes Tests

with Academic Standards• Criterion-Reference High-Stakes

Tests• Norm-Referenced High-Stakes

Tests

Academic Standards

• As part of education reform movement several states began to identify the objectives of instruction for pupils in each of their academic subjects across the elementary, middle, and high school years.

Academic Standards

• These statewide objectives are specific, measurable outcomes of learning that have been accepted by committees of educators and others.

Academic Standards

• Over time, these instructional objectives came to be known as academic standards and formed the basis of what came to be known as standards-based reform.

Performance Standards

• Once a state’s academic standards were established, committees then identified appropriate levels of performance for each standard that would indicate that the objective, or academic standard, had been met.

Performance Standards

• Performance standards can vary considerably from state to state, and even within states over time. Thus, what separates “acceptable, unacceptable, proficient, and exceptional” performance may vary both across states and within states with the passage of time, and may vary from the perspective of educators and non-educators.

Performance Standards

• The intention of performance standards is to raise expectations enough to raise achievement but not to raise expectations so high that students, teachers, and others fail to take them seriously because they are unattainable.

Alignment of High-Stakes Tests with Academic Standards

• After establishing academic standards and performance standards states had to decide on ways to measure whether students were achieving these standards.

Alignment of High-Stakes Tests with Academic Standards

• Alignment is what measurement specialists consider to be evidence of an achievement test’s content validity.

Criterion-reference High-stakes Tests

• Criterion-reference tests are primarily intended to measure student performance against a criterion for mastery so they are well-suited for measuring state standards, all other factors being equal.

Norm-Referenced High-Stakes Tests

• National norm-referenced tests are designed to focus on broad national goals and objectives, which may differ considerably from state academic standards.

The High-stakes Testing Backlash

• FairTest is a national organization that advocates for alternatives to standardized tests as measures of learning.

• FairTest criticized high-stakes tests as failing “to produce evidence of sustained learning improvement for all students.

• There was also an objection of reconstitution of low performing schools• “High-Stakes Tests are

for Tomatoes”

• Popham (200) in a paper entitled “Educational Mismeasurement: How Stakes-Testing can Harm our Children”, alleges that high-stakes testing are a causing a decline in citizens’ regard for public education, and that the results for students are devastating.

• news media have also brought significant attention to the HST concerns• Even the courts have been

involved

Is There Really A High-Stakes Testing Backlash?

• Several surveys were conducted showing support for high-stakes tests.

• After reviewing these and other data, Driesler (2001) concluded that intense media coverage of HST was at least in part responsible for the perception that there is a public backlash against HST.

• He said “there is no evidence of a wide spread public ‘backlash’ against testing.... The truth is these anti-testing protests only reflect the views of a small, vocal minority of parents and not those of the much larger, assessment-supporting public” (p.5).

• Several statements from the U.S. Department of Education website also reflect how strongly the current administration believes in annual HST. “To get truly useful information that allows teachers to identify individuals students who need help, we must test every child every year”.

• “Another benefit of annual testing is that it allows us to identify successful schools ... and we can identify and reward schools that are helping their students make the most progress”. “Test score data allow schools to make decisions based on facts rather than guesses”

What Do National Organizations Say About High-stakes Tests?

• AERA’s Twelve Conditions That High-Stakes Testing Programs Should Meet

1. Protection against High-Stakes Decisions based on a Single Test

2. Adequate resources and opportunity to learn.

3. Validation for each intended separate use.

4. Full disclosure of likely negative consequences of HST programs.

5. Alignment between the test and the curriculum.

6. Validity of passing scores and achievement level.

7. Opportunities for meaningful remediation for examinees who fail high-stakes tests.

8. Appropriate attention to language differences between examinees.

9. Appropriate attention to students with disabilities.

10. Careful adherence to explicit rules for determining which students are to be tested.

11. Sufficient reliability for each intended use.

12. Ongoing evaluation of intended and unintended effects of HST.

Helping Students (And Yourself) Prepare For High-stakes Tests

• Focus on the task, not your feelings about it.

• Inform students and parents about the importance of the test.

• Teach test-taking skills as part of regular instruction

• As the test day approaches respond to student questions openly and directly• Take advantage of whatever

preparation materials are available