High-Stakes Testing, Standardization, and Inequality in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne Au
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Racial Achievement

High-stakes standardized tests standardize which knowledge is assessed, and because consequences are tied to their results, they have the impact of standardizing classroom content, teaching, and learning. The result is that students whose cultural identities do not fit the standardized norms created by test-based must either adapt or are left out of the curriculum and the classroom. This happens in a few key ways. First, as schools face increased pressure to raise test scores, curriculum content that embraces the diversity of student history, culture, and experience gets pushed out. In turn, this standardization of content limits the diversity of teacher and student identities expressed in classroom pedagogical experiences. Finally, given the disparate racial achievement on high-stakes tests, students of color face more intense pressure to perform, while at the same time their educational experiences become increasingly restricted and less rich than those of affluent, whiter students. Additionally, even though educational research has consistently shown that high-stakes testing correlates most strongly with the socioeconomic backgrounds of students and their communities, policymakers and many educators presume that these tests are offer objective measurements of individual merit. This mistaken belief ulitmately serves to hide and justify existing inequalities in the United States under the notion of individual achievement. The overall result being that high-stakes, standardized tests reproduce educational inequalities associated with race and class in the United States.

A Comparative Study of Higher-Order Thinking and Teaching in the United States and United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-63
Author(s):  
Vibhakumari Solanki ◽  
Brian R. Evans
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Higher Order Thinking ◽  
The United States ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
The United Kingdom

The United States and the United Kingdom have used standardized high-stakes testing as a measurement of students’ cognitive level to determine success in the 21st century. Standardized tests have given teachers guidance to help them determine what to teach students and how to teach to the test. With such increased emphasis on high-stakes standardized tests, students are being taught based on tested content. This study evaluates the frequency of higher-and lower-order items in the respective country’s standardized test, and analyzes the teaching of higher-order thinking within classroom instruction.

scholarly journals Journeying into the Complexities and Possibilities of Performative Pedagogical Practice, Research and Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol XI (2) ◽  
pp. 32-50
Author(s):  
Gustave J. Weltsek
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Process Drama ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
School Students ◽  
Fictional World ◽  
High Stakes

In the United States, there is an obsession with high stakes testing, and performative pedagogues are challenged to prove that their work is valuable to increased scores. Educators who work through performative pedagogies are also expected to articulate the ways the work encourages and supports socio-cultural growth. In this article, the author calls into question trying to validate performative pedagogies based upon what they produce and or do and rather explores the complexities and possibilities of our work made manifest within observable discourses. Data was collected over the course of a year from a process drama with 20 pre-school students. Three students’ stories provided the researcher the opportunity to articulate multiple ways in which student identities began to emerge. An articulation was made possible based upon how individual discourses were observable as students interpreted and acted upon the various social needs within both an institutionalized world of their school and the fictional world of a pioneer journey.

High Stakes Testing and Educational Inequality in K-12 Schools

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald W. Solórzano
Keyword(s):  
Students Of Color ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Curriculum And Instruction ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Low Achievement ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
K 12

The ubiquitous use of high stakes tests in K-12 schools in the United States has a deleterious effect on students of color (e.g., Black and Latino). Punitive policies related to test outcomes, such as retention and graduation, have been particularly damaging. In fact, the historical use of tests has been linked to exclusionary and racist motives resulting in discriminatory practices in college admissions while leading to genetic and cultural deficit theories to explain low achievement for students of color. The legacy of these early uses of tests has maintained its adverse presence in today’s educational landscape. National data on grade retention, high school dropout rates, and achievement indicate that students of color are disproportionately penalized by school-based policies resulting in an unequal educational experience. Unfortunately, these trends have been persistent reflecting achievement gaps between White and Asian students and Latino and Black students, and where, in most cases, no meaningful progress in eliminating these gaps has been made. English learners are particularly harmed by these policies and tests since language and opportunity to learn (OTL) concerns persist. Trends of low achievement are attributed to poorly resourced schools, cultural deficit theories employed by school personnel, and the invalid use of tests. Schools could serve students better by employing a curriculum and instruction that is culturally and linguistically relevant, that integrates communities and schools to critically analyze their educational and social-political status and agency thus empowering both for lasting change. Furthermore, teachers need to be empowered to be instructional leaders who critically evaluate their curriculum and instruction so as to educate and liberate students of color.

Implementation of Unified English Braille by Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (6) ◽  
pp. 543-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunggye Hong ◽  
L. Penny Rosenblum ◽  
Amy Frank Campbell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Visual Impairments ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Future Success ◽  
Transition Plan ◽  
Visually Impaired Students ◽  
Survey Responses

Introduction This study analyzed survey responses from 141 teachers of students with visual impairments who shared their experiences about the implementation of Unified English Braille (UEB). Methods Teachers of students with visual impairments in the United States completed an online survey during spring 2016. Results Although most respondents knew if their state had a UEB transition plan, few participated in its development. Half attended workshops to learn about word-based UEB, but few attended workshops about math-based UEB. They believed their students would be successful in transitioning to word-based UEB but were less sure about their transition to math-based UEB. Discussion The teachers believed they were more confident in their own skills and their students' future success with word-based UEB compared to math-based UEB. Additional clarification on the relationship between math-based UEB and the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation (hereafter, Nemeth code), an increased capacity of math-based UEB training, and clear instruction for high-stakes testing were considered to be urgent issues among these teachers. Implications for practitioners Issues concerning the implementation of UEB in the United States will continue to challenge the field of visual impairment for the next several years. Although many teachers of visually impaired students had knowledge of word-based UEB and resources for its implementation, as of January 4, 2016, few were prepared to teach math-based UEB. As the United States is maintaining the Nemeth code, future studies, workshops, and the development of resources are needed to ensure braille users have the knowledge and materials they need in order to be literate in all aspects of UEB.

Introduction

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Hochschild ◽  
Nathan Scovronick
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
American Dream ◽  
School Funding ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Good Citizen ◽  
The Individual

THE AMERICAN DREAM IS A POWERFUL CONCEPT. It encourages each person who lives in the United States to pursue success, and it creates the framework within which everyone can do it. It holds each person responsible for achieving his or her own dreams, while generating shared values and behaviors needed to persuade Americans that they have a real chance to achieve them. It holds out a vision of both individual success and the collective good of all. From the perspective of the individual, the ideology is as compelling as it is simple. “I am an American, so I have the freedom and opportunity to make whatever I want of my life. I can succeed by working hard and using my talents; if I fail, it will be my own fault. Success is honorable, and failure is not. In order to make sure that my children and grandchildren have the same freedom and opportunities that I do, I have a responsibility to be a good citizen— to respect those whose vision of success is different from my own, to help make sure that everyone has an equal chance to succeed, to participate in the democratic process, and to teach my children to be proud of this country.” Not all residents of the United States believe all of those things, of course, and some believe none of them. Nevertheless, this American dream is surprisingly close to what most Americans have believed through most of recent American history. Public schools are where it is all supposed to start—they are the central institutions for bringing both parts of the dream into practice. Americans expect schools not only to help students reach their potential as individuals but also to make them good citizens who will maintain the nation’s values and institutions, help them flourish, and pass them on to the next generation. The American public widely endorses both of these broad goals, values public education, and supports it with an extraordinary level of resources. Despite this consensus Americans disagree intensely about the education policies that will best help us achieve this dual goal. In recent years disputes over educational issues have involved all the branches and levels of government and have affected millions of students. The controversies—over matters like school funding, vouchers, bilingual education, high-stakes testing, desegregation, and creationism—seem, at first glance, to be separate problems.

scholarly journals Redistributing work during COVID-19: Penn State University Libraries’ job bank

2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (8) ◽  
pp. 394
Author(s):  
Leo S. Lo ◽  
Binky Lush ◽  
Dace Freivaids
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
State University ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
Penn State ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Financial Losses

March 2020 became a pivoting moment for higher education in the United States, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced colleges and universities to switch to remote delivery of instruction within weeks. The impact of this event is deep and far-reaching. There is already a deluge of articles about how most faculty and students have had to adjust to a new way of teaching and learning--or how administrators have had to brace for financial losses. However, little has been written about the situations librarians and library staff are facing.

scholarly journals The Unintended, Pernicious Consequences of "Staying the Course" on the United States' No Child Left Behind Policy

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Amrein-Beardsley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Education ◽  
Top Down ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Familiar Expression

The phrase “no child left behind” has become a familiar expression in American education circles and in popular culture. The sentiment implied by these four words is noble. However, the effects of the top-down implementation of the high-stakes testing provisions of the law have been anything but salutary for public school children, teachers, and administrators. This claim is supported by data describing many of the ways in which well-intentioned but desperate educators, from the statehouse to the schoolhouse, have been driven to game the system in ironic defense of the children, teachers, and administrators least equipped to defend themselves. It is argued herein that, instead of reauthorizing the stronger accountability tenet of NCLB, it might do very well to let it fade away.

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