Overview: What is High Stakes Assessment?
High stakes assessments refer to any test used to make important decisions about students, teachers, administration, schools and/or school districts. The main goal is to find accountability and to provide effective teaching for successful students. The scores from high stakes tests can be used to determine sanctions and penalties for schools or school districts, awards for schools, grade advancement for students, or compensation in salary or bonuses for teachers and/or administration. For better or for worse, high states assessments have been part of a student's education in the United States. Typically, and with the program of No Child Left Behind signed into law in January 2002, students have been required to take standardized tests in each grade level. However, with the Every Student Succeeds Act passed in December 2015, the testing system has been reconfigured to test from 3rd through 8th grade and once more in high school. The ESSA aims to provide more equity for students and less punitive repercussions for teachers and schools. Overall, the purpose of these standardized "high stakes" tests is to
While all these reasons listed above appear to be noble reasons for administering high stakes assessments and there are arguments in favor of high stakes assessments, such as establishing a standard for all students, providing information about student and school performance and creating high expectations, there is a downside to these types of tests. Opponents of high stakes testing argue that
As we see in the video above, the two teachers in Georgia are faced with the challenge of "teaching to the test" from the first day of school. We also see that there is no inclusion for those students who have learning differences.
High Stakes Testing: How does it affect me as a teacher?
Beginning in September, I will be an elementary school teacher in a different type of school in France. I will be teaching across three primary grade levels in an American section of a French international public school. It is an interesting balance between cultures. Students in the American section attend classes in English, mainly language arts but also a bit of science, history and geography, 6 hours a week and spend the rest of their school week in French public school classes. Due to the special nature of the American section, and while it is accredited, they do not administer the standardized, high stakes assessments that schools in the United States do. Therefore, I will not be under the pressure to "teach to the test" or worry about funding given or taken away or stress on my students due to high stakes assessment.
There is, however, a tradition of high stakes testing in French education. In middle school, before entering high school, students take the Brévet. And, to graduate from high school, students must pass the Baccalauréat. These tests have been around since their implementation by Napoléon who created a national, centralized education system in France. The Baccalauréat is the most stressful test for French students as it determines whether they graduate or not and what university they can get into. These tests also reflect on the school, but more in terms of their reputation than in funding. A student's success (or failure) on the test is primarily up to the student. The Baccalauréat is not a standardized test. It is comprised of a week-long series of oral and written tests from philosophy to language to literature to science and math, depending on how the student has been tracked academically. Tracking generally begins around the end of middle school or beginning of high school and students decide whether they want to concentrate on a literature-based or math/science-based curriculum.
The Baccalauréat exam, while a high stakes test because it determines high school students' futures, has a mixed reputation in France. It was once highly regarded and respected but nowadays seems to be more of a "rite of passage." As an article in The New York Times by Scott Sayare reported:
Since I will not be teaching upper school students, I won't be directly affected, as a teacher, by the French exams--Brévet and Baccalauréat. And, because the American section does not administer American standardized tests, I think I am lucky to not have to worry about high stakes assessments. After having read various articles and watched videos, like the one above, it is clear that high stakes assessments have a large impact on students, teachers and schools. Personally, I think it is difficult (impossible) to look at one child's test result and determine 1) that child's academic future and 2) the effectiveness of the teacher. I feel it is much more constructive to look at the test result along with the child's progress throughout the year (or at least across a few months), their social and emotional benchmarks and their progress in all subjects, not just the two or three tested on the standardized assessment.
The Baccalauréat exam, while a high stakes test because it determines high school students' futures, has a mixed reputation in France. It was once highly regarded and respected but nowadays seems to be more of a "rite of passage." As an article in The New York Times by Scott Sayare reported:
Outside the Lycée Condorcet in Paris last week, Justine Ripoll said that the test she
was about to take served little practical purpose, but she defended it just the same.“It’s more a rite of passage than an exam,” said Ms. Ripoll, 18, dragging lightly on a
morning cigarette. “That’s why it would be a shame to get rid of it. Everybody’s been
To be known as a having "traumatized everybody" gives a clear indication of how French people view the exam.through it. It’s traumatized everybody.”
Since I will not be teaching upper school students, I won't be directly affected, as a teacher, by the French exams--Brévet and Baccalauréat. And, because the American section does not administer American standardized tests, I think I am lucky to not have to worry about high stakes assessments. After having read various articles and watched videos, like the one above, it is clear that high stakes assessments have a large impact on students, teachers and schools. Personally, I think it is difficult (impossible) to look at one child's test result and determine 1) that child's academic future and 2) the effectiveness of the teacher. I feel it is much more constructive to look at the test result along with the child's progress throughout the year (or at least across a few months), their social and emotional benchmarks and their progress in all subjects, not just the two or three tested on the standardized assessment.
Consequences
In my research on this topic for my assignment, I found that most of the articles written on high stakes assessments were not in favor of them. It seems like the majority of opinions feel that these types of tests to not fully reflect student learning. I think it is a difficult situation because there seems to be a need to find a standard and to globally track student progress, but administering a standardized, high stakes test does not seem to be the most effective method. Overall, the two biggest concerns related to high stakes assessments that I found were 1) teaching to the test, which took away from parts of curriculum, and 2) the tests not improving education for all students.
The first concern of teaching to the test, we saw illustrated in the video above with the two teachers in Georgia teaching to the test the first day of school. Additionally, in a study done in Australia among 8,000 teachers, the results showed that because of high stakes assessments, there has been a reduction in time spend on other curriculum areas and more time spent on curriculum related to tests. The study confirmed that this ultimately narrowed the overall education of each student. These findings are unfortunate when we think about the kind of students we want to encourage. Are we teaching students to think in a standardized way rather than fully preparing them with 21st Century skills in real-world experiences?
The second concern, revolving around not improving education for all students, is really the idea that the tests have seemed to punish those schools, students or teachers who have not performed well instead of using the tests to help those who need help the most. As the 2015 article High-Stakes Testing Hasn't Brought Education Gains points out
The only thing that more testing will tell us is what we already know: The schools that disadvantaged children attend are not being given the supports necessary to produce achievement gains. Students cannot be tested out of poverty, and while NCLB did take us a step forward by requiring schools to produce evidence that students were learning, it took us several steps backward when that evidence was reduced to how well a student performed on a standardized test.The authors of this article point out that it's not necessarily the test that is bad, but how the test results are used.
The Future
In the United States, we will have to wait and see how the Every Student Succeeds Act impacts students, teachers and schools. Perhaps the greatest gift we can give to our students with regard to high stakes assessments is to take away the the power it holds over them. We can look at the results, but also look at the student as a whole. Schools are not factories that are intended to produce the same make and model, so if our testing does not reflect the differences among our students, then the way we assess them overall should.
Sources
Dianis, J. B., Jackson, J. H., & Noguera, P. (2015). High-Stakes Testing Hasn't Brought Education Gains. Phi Delta Kappan, 97(1), 35-37.
N.A. (2014). High-Stakes Test. The glossary of education reform. Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/high-stakes-testing/
Polesel, J., Rice, S., & Dulfer, N. (2014). The Impact of High-Stakes Testing on Curriculum and Pedagogy: A Teacher Perspective from Australia. Journal Of Education Policy, 29(5), 640-657.
Sayare, S. (2013). Rite of Passage for French Students Receives Poor Grade. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/world/europe/a-rite-of-passage-for-french-students-receives-a-poor-grade.html?_r=0
Shindell, R. (2001). What is the Real Purpose of Standardized Testing? Teacher Newsmagazine. 14(1). Retrieved from: https://bctf.ca/publications/NewsmagArticle.aspx?id=11406
Supovitz, J. (2016). Is High Stakes Testing Working? Excerpt from: Can High Stakes Testing Leverage Educational Improvement? Prospects from the Last Decade of Testing and Accountability Reform. The Journal of Educational Change, 10(2-3).
von der Embse, N. P., & Witmer, S. E. (2014). High-Stakes Accountability: Student Anxiety and Large-Scale Testing. Journal Of Applied School Psychology, 30(2), 132-156.
Sources for Images
http://neatoday.org/2014/06/17/the-high-stakes-testing-culture-how-we-got-here-how-we-get-out/
https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/high-stakes-testing-and-what-that-means-in-seattle/
https://www.maetoday.org/index.php/issues/high-stakes-testing.html
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