High Stakes testing is an enigma. This type of testing is important because standardized testing is an objective indicator of student performance. They ensure objectivity because professionals familiar with the skills necessary to meet state standards write them.
These tests are used to make important decisions about students, educators, schools, or districts. Most commonly used for accountability. The attempt by federal, state, and/or local government agencies and school administrators to ensure that students are enrolled in effective schools and being taught by effective teachers.
Generally, these tests are used as punishments or sanctions. Funding reductions and negative publicity are common. They are used to award teachers, schools, and districts if students perform well on these tests. Salary increase, bonuses, or promotion for teachers and administrators can be a result of good test taking skills. Adversely, teachers can be placed on probation or lose their jobs for poor test takers. Students are also having consequences depending on their performance on these tests. Many states use high stakes testing for grade advancement and graduation.
Yes, high-stakes testing matters. After all, we can tell a lot about a student who gets high grades on high stakes testing. We can tell that they are good at taking test. They possess great test taking skills. They may even be able to memorize content.
Students who perform well on tests should not be chastised. I am sure you sensed my sarcasm in the previous paragraph. Their achievement should be celebrated. However, students who perform poorly on high stakes tests should not be chastised either.
Some people just do not test well for various reasons. Poor test taking skills, high anxiety, learning differences, or they perform better on authentic or performance based assessments. I understand that High-Stakes is not defined by the format of a test but defined by how the results are used. However, most of the time it is a standardized test that does not test for other levels learning or intelligences.
I read somewhere from a proponent of High Stakes testing and the use of them that they are necessary because they tell the good students apart from the bad ones. WHAT?! That is the fundamental problem I have with the use of these tests in most schools. There are no “bad ones”. There are diverse learners.
How about this reason: It is a great predictor of success? UM NO! I would be an utter failure if High-Stakes testing was a predictor of success. I do not test well on standardized high stakes test. I never have, never will. Good Thing SUNY Fredonia didn’t only look at my SAT and ACT scores but also looked at my school grades, student council participation, volunteer work, internship at the county legislative office, and for just being an all-around decent student. If they hadn’t, I would not be working on my Doctorate in Education.
A true predictor for success is resilience, good soft skills, and high emotional intelligence.
This is what I propose: use testing to gain a baseline of what the student knows. But let’s create tests that can test more than a one-dimensional measure of knowledge and intelligence. Let’s measure our students against their own progress not a standard benchmark created by those who have lost touch what it means to be a learner and what it feels like to be in the classroom.
The moment I compare my son to what he should be doing to what all other 15 year olds are doing, I lose sight of how far he has come. He is not a failure because he can’t score well on tests. He is a champion because he has come so far. He faces learning obstacles every day and yet can’t wait to get on that bus. He faces communication obstacles every day and yet learns a new sign and uses his AAC to tell me his is tired or wants to go for a walk. His successes mean nothing if all I am dong is looking at what he ‘should’ be doing as a 10th grader. His successes mean everything when I compare to where he was, where he is now, and where he will be tomorrow.
The thought of teachers and schools being punished for someone else’s performance (students) is so absurd to me. What other profession has this measure of accountability? But I digress.
The school my son attends and I will be doing my clinical hours at: Aspire Center for Learning is a school specifically for students with exceptional needs. They all have multiple and significant needs. High Stakes testing does not have the same impact at this school on teachers or funding as it does at other traditional schools.
Our students take alternative assessments that are created by their teachers. I ask you how valid, reliable, or standard is that? All the students that attend this school have different home school districts. They are from all over Erie County. The district we live in doesn’t even count Scotty’s assessment scores. So why have him even take them?
The charter school I worked at a few years ago prior to my online teaching gig stressed not only the teachers out about the testing but also the students. They violated so many laws and special education regulations regarding testing protocol it made me physically ill. Administration and the Board were so bent on good scores they instructed content teachers to meet with students they believed would not pass the High Stakes Testing (NYS Regents Exams) to keep their scores high and strongly advised them to not take the exam to not show up at all.
As a Special Education teacher and at Aspire Center for Learning, we are more concerned with progress with the Individualized Education Program Goals. We closely monitor the progress of the goals. The progress or lack of progress towards their goals is how I was evaluated as a teacher.
Reading some of the literature on the impact of High-Stakes testing has me reeling. Increase in child and young adult suicide in Korea and India! For what purpose to have your country marked high achieving compared to other countries? We are losing site of what is important in not only education, but in life.
Our students are living breathing creations who have much to offer. A test score tells me nothing of the grit and resilience my son or students must have to keep smiling even after they had a night full of seizures. Individuals like my son can teach our policy makers a thing or two on emotional intelligence, perseverance, courage, resilience, humility, and what it truly means to be successful in life. My son and others like him teach me every day success is in one’s spirit of how we treat one another. We are failing our students, our schools, and our teachers to rely so heavily on these test scores.
It would behoove us to take the information the scores give us and make decisions on how we can meet all our learners needs the best we can. Let’s help our students become well adjusted, resilient contributors to society. Let’s help create students who are encouraged and empowered, not just educated.
References
(n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2017, from http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/brochures/testing.aspx
Concepts, L. (2014, August 18). High-Stakes Test Definition. Retrieved September 16, 2017, from http://edglossary.org/high-stakes-testing/
Jeunes, L. V. (n.d.). Student Suicides in South Korea. Retrieved September 16, 2017, from http://www.voicesofyouth.org/fr/posts/student-suicides-in-south-korea
Kamenetz, A. (2015, January 22). The Past, Present And Future Of High-Stakes Testing. Retrieved September 16, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/01/22/377438689/the-past-present-and-future-of-high-stakes-testing
MacAskill, A., & Ashreena, T. (2014, December 10). In modernising India, suicide is on the rise among young. Retrieved September 16, 2017, from http://in.reuters.com/article/india-suicide/in-modernising-india-suicide-is-on-the-rise-among-young-idINKBN0JO2A420141211
Relying on High-Stakes Standardized Tests to Evaluate Schools and Teachers: A Bad Idea. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2017, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00098655.2016.1156628
The NCES Fast Facts Tool provides quick answers to many education questions (National Center for Education Statistics). (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2017, from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1
