A new national study on high-stakes testing bolsters the long-held view of educators in California and elsewhere that such tests are not an accurate measure of student achievement in schools.
In fact, the high-stakes tests that often determine student graduation, school rankings, teacher incentives and the flow of money into schools may actually worsen academic achievement and dropout rates, according to the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University.
Researchers found that while students showed improvement on the state exams, their scores on other measures declined. After instituting the state exams, twice as many states slipped in their scores on the SAT and ACT as gained on them, while the same trend occurred for elementary math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, an exam overseen by the U.S. Department of Education.
The study also found that scores on Advanced Placement tests had declined below the national average in 57 percent of those states, while movement on elementary reading scores had split, better than the national average in half of the states, worse than national average in the other half.
The research is especially important now that 28 states, including California, have implemented high-stakes tests as a cornerstone of their educational improvement programs. The approach has also been key to President George W. Bush's education reforms. CTA went on record several years ago as opposing the tests as a single measure of achievement.
"Teachers are focusing so intently on the high-stakes tests that they are neglecting other things that are ultimately more important," lead researcher Audrey Amrein told The New York Times. "In theory, high-stakes tests should work, because they advance the notions of high standards and accountability. But students are being trained so narrowly because of it, they are having a hard time branching out and understanding general problem-solving."
The study found that once states tie standardized tests to graduation, fewer students receive their diplomas. After adopting mandatory exit exams, twice as many states had a graduation rate that fell faster than the national average as had a rate that fell slower. Drop-out rates in 62 percent of the states worsened while the enrollment of young people in graduate equivalency programs grew.
The reason, the authors maintain, isn't just that struggling students become frustrated with the tough standards, but that administrators who are held responsible for raising test scores occasionally pressure failing students to drop out.
The study was commissioned by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice, a group of six Midwestern state affiliates of NEA. Although the study has drawn criticism from supporters of high-stakes tests, an independent panel of university researchers concluded the findings are valid. The study is the first to look at the issue nationally, examining graduation rates and scores from a variety of tests in more than two dozen states.
"This is not research by press release, this is serious work," said Sherman Dorn, a University of South Florida education professor who reviewed the work. "What's very clear is that the study challenges the conventional wisdom that high-stakes testing improves academic achievement and does not have unwanted consequences beyond that."
The complete study can be viewed at the Great Lakes Center's website http://www.greatlakescenter.org/.
Dale Martin