Week 12

                        High stakes testing has become a dominant feature of the schools in the United States.  Having watched my children go through school, some before the era of No Child Left Behind, and others after, I have certainly noticed a difference.  However, besides the newspaper articles and endless debate on the ramifications of the NCLB, I have not noticed a drastic change in my children’s education.  There may have been a greater emphasis on metrics for reading in elementary school.  But otherwise I have not been aware of a great difference.  Although many teachers malign the differences that it has prompted in their manner of teaching as well as the pressure it puts on them, I have not observed the same complaints from my children.  They have noticed more the pressure that their teachers seem to feel at the annual testing time.  They have often commented, with some puzzlement, how their teachers seem particularly nervous during the weeks of high stakes testing.  Of course for many of the teachers, it is nerve-wracking.  Teachers often feel the pressure of student’s producing good test scores because this will be a reflection on them.  Some teachers have told me that much of their job evaluation rests on these tests.  And a poor administration of the tests can also be criteria for job termination in some districts.  Teachers feel enormous pressure.  But, I’m not so sure the students feel it.  For the students, finals or midterms are often much more of a high stakes testing time. 

            However when the book talked about looking at an environmental assessment when considering student achievement, I had to wonder how the stress that teachers feel during and leading up to the high stakes testing might impact students.  Students are not oblivious to the pressure their teachers under.  It is part of the equation that impacts their learning along with the many other variables that come together to foster learning.  I can certainly understand why teachers feel an immense amount of pressure leading up to testing time because these are certainly high stakes tests for them and for the school as a whole.  But it is interesting to parse out for whom the tests are really high stakes, in order to get a better handle on the adverse impact of such tests on the learning environment.  As with any assessment it certainly seems worth reviewing the purpose of the assessment, and whether it is meeting its stated intention, and whether the cost is worth the gain.  The value of high stakes testing for students (SAT, PSAT, etc.) and the value of high stakes testing for teachers and schools (such as STAR tests, PSSA’s, etc.) is certainly worth assessing repeatedly to be sure they serve the intended purpose. 

Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.