Pedagogies for the Poor? Realigning Reading Instruction for Low-Income Students With Scientifically Based Reading Research

2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (9) ◽  
pp. 564-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Cummins
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Reading First ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Reading Engagement ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Phonics Instruction ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Reading First Initiative

In this article, the author argues that there is minimal scientific support for the pedagogical approaches promoted for low-income students in the federal Reading First initiative. In combination with high-stakes testing, the interpretation of the construct systematic phonics instruction in Reading First has resulted in highly teacher-centered and inflexible classroom environments. By privileging these approaches, Reading First ignored the National Reading Panel’s finding that systematic phonics instruction was unrelated to reading comprehension for low-achieving and normally achieving students beyond Grade 1. Also ignored was the significant body of research suggesting that reading engagement is an important predictor of achievement. Alternative evidence-based directions for rebalancing reading instruction for low-income students are suggested in the context of the impending reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind legislation.

Complicating What it Means to ‘Struggle’: One Young Child's Experience with a Mandated Literacy Initiative

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Glupczynski Spencer
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Early Literacy ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Literacy Curriculum ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
School Based ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Reading First Initiative

In this article, the author explores the implementation of the K-3 Reading First initiative and its recommendation for scientifically based reading curricula. During a time of high-stakes testing and accountability, this policy has emphasized a skills-based approach to reading and placed importance on scripted teaching models. Using data from a qualitative study in a public school in New York City, the author draws on the experiences of one young child to see how the standardization of early literacy curriculum shaped his school-based literacy practices.

scholarly journals Testing, Stress, and Performance: How Students Respond Physiologically to High-Stakes Testing

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-50
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Heissel ◽  
Emma K. Adam ◽  
Jennifer L. Doleac ◽  
David N. Figlio ◽  
Jonathan Meer
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Testing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Regular School ◽  
The Difference ◽  
And Performance

We examine how students' physiological stress differs between a regular school week and a highstakes testing week, and we raise questions about how to interpret high-stakes test scores. A potential contributor to socioeconomic disparities in academic performance is the difference in the level of stress experienced by students outside of school. Chronic stress – due to neighborhood violence, poverty, or family instability – can affect how individuals' bodies respond to stressors in general, including the stress of standardized testing. This, in turn, can affect whether performance on standardized tests is a valid measure of students' actual ability. We collect data on students' stress responses using cortisol samples provided by low-income students in New Orleans. We measure how their cortisol patterns change during high-stakes testing weeks relative to baseline weeks. We find that high-stakes testing is related to cortisol responses, and those responses are related to test performance. Those who responded most strongly – with either increases or decreases in cortisol – scored 0.40 standard deviations lower than expected on the high-stakes exam.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Rethinking the Connection Between High-Stakes Testing Policy and Classroom Instruction

2007 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 285-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Diamond
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Classroom Instruction ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
The Road ◽  
Collegial Interactions ◽  
Instructional Content ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Testing Policies

In this article, the author examines the link between high-stakes testing policies and classroom instruction. Using data from classroom observations and interviews with teachers, he argues that these policies influence instruction but are mediated by teachers and filtered through their collegial interactions. He shows that teachers link the influence of high-stakes testing policies to instructional content (the knowledge and skills that they emphasize) more often than pedagogy (how they engage students around instructional content). As a result, didactic instruction dominates, especially in predominantly low-income and African American schools, in a policy environment that encourages addressing racial and class achievement gaps by increasing the use of interactive forms of instruction. The author concludes that researchers should be cautious not to overstate the impact of these policies on pedagogy and educational equity.

Assessing No Child Left Behind and the Rise of Neoliberal Education Policies

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hursh
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Education Reforms ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
Globalized Economy ◽  
To Receive

No Child Left Behind and other education reforms promoting high-stakes testing, accountability, and competitive markets continue to receive wide support from politicians and public figures. This support, the author suggests, has been achieved by situating education within neoliberal policies that argue that such reforms are necessary within an increasingly globalized economy, will increase academic achievement, and will close the achievement gap. However, the author offers preliminary data suggesting that the reforms are not achieving their stated goals. Consequently, educators need to question whether neoliberal approaches to education should replace the previously dominant social democratic approaches.

scholarly journals Cheating in the first, second, and third degree: Educators' responses to high-stakes testing

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Amrein-Beardsley ◽  
David C. Berliner ◽  
Sharon Rideau
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Testing Policies

Educators are under tremendous pressure to ensure that their students perform well on tests.  Unfortunately, this pressure has caused some educators to cheat.  The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of, and degrees to which, a sample of teachers in Arizona were aware of, or had themselves engaged in test-related cheating practices as a function of the high-stakes testing policies of No Child Left Behind. A near census sample of teachers was surveyed, with valid responses obtained from about 5 percent, totaling just over 3,000 teachers. In addition, one small convenience sample of teachers was interviewed, and another participated in a focus group. Data revealed that cheating occurs and that educators can be quite clever when doing so. But how one defines cheating makes it difficult to quantify the frequency with which educators engage in such practices. Our analysis thus required us to think about a taxonomy of cheating based on the definitions of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree offenses in the field of law. These categories were analyzed to help educators better define, and be more aware of others' and their own cheating practices, in an attempt to inform local testing policies and procedures.

scholarly journals Does high-stakes testing increase cultural capital among low-income and racial minority students?

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Won-Pyo Hong ◽  
Peter Youngs
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Minority Students ◽  
Low Income ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Racial Minority ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Student Dropout ◽  
Racial Minority Students ◽  
Curriculum Instruction

This article draws on research from Texas and Chicago to examine whether high-stakes testing enables low-income and racial minority students to acquire cultural capital. While students' performance on state or district tests rose after the implementation of high-stakes testing and accountability policies in Texas and Chicago in the 1990s, several studies indicate that these policies seemed to have had deleterious effects on curriculum, instruction, the percentage of students excluded from the tests, and student dropout rates. As a result, the policies seemed to have had mixed effects on students' opportunities to acquire embodied and institutionalized cultural capital. These findings are consistent with the work of Shepard (2000), Darling-Hammond (2004a), and others who have written of the likely negative repercussions of high-stakes testing and accountability policies.

High Stakes Testing: Issues, Implications, and Remedies for English Language Learners

2008 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald W. Solórzano
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Proficiency Tests ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
High Stakes Tests

This article discusses the issues and implications of high stakes tests on English language learners (ELLs). As ELLs are being included in all high stakes assessments tied to accountability efforts (e.g., No Child Left Behind), it is crucial that issues related to the tests be critically evaluated relative to their use. In this case, academic achievement tests are analyzed relative to their norming samples and validity to determine their usefulness to ELLs. Also, commonly used language proficiency tests are examined relative to definitions of proficiency, technical quality, alignment with criteria for language classification and reclassification, and their academic predictive validity. Based on the synthesis of the literature, the author concludes that high stakes tests as currently constructed are inappropriate for ELLs, and most disturbing is their continued use for high stakes decisions that have adverse consequences. The author provides recommendations for addressing the issues related to high stakes tests and ELLs.

scholarly journals Niezamierzone skutki stosowania testów wysokiej stawki. Lekcja z amerykańskiej reformy NCLB

1970 ◽  
pp. 39-64
Author(s):  
Alicja Zawistowska
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Exit Exams ◽  
Unintended Effects ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Teaching Standards ◽  
Accountability Policy

Educational decision makers willingly draw on solutions adopted in other countries. It was also the case in Polish educational reform started in late 90s. Since the introduction of the reform, Poland joined countries whose educational system is divided into three levels, each ending with an exit exams and core curriculum is set to teaching standards. The exams seem to be the most important element of the Polish reform. While the designers of educational policies are often inspired by the experiences of other countries during the planning phase, they are less willing to learn from them when it comes to predicting outcomes of the reform. A good case to analyze potential consequences of high-stakes testing is United States, where standardized tests have been administered since the beginning of the era of mass education. In this paper I will analyze the effects of the last, most controversial federal reform, commonly known as No Child Left Behind introduced in 2002. Findings of the study might be used to predict potential unintended effects of using the high stakes tests for accountability policy. The article addresses the problem of test scores inflation as well as the factors which may accelerate it.

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