High
stakes testing measures both growth and point in time levels and then ranks schools on these factors.
Not exact matches
Thankfully, we are moving away from the emphasis on high -
stakes tests and toward the creation of more authentic student learning
measures.
A new report from the Royal Society on improving U.K. science and mathematics education contains a lengthy wish list: Upper - level students should take a lot more science and math; more college graduates with science degrees should go into teaching; current teachers should continually upgrade their skills and have a larger voice in the educational process; and the government should de-emphasize the high -
stakes tests used to
measure student achievement.
This is in contrast to «summative assessment,» which
measures learning at the end of the unit or term, or for high -
stakes tests.
Because the other standardized
tests are «low -
stakes tests,» without any reward or punishment attached to student or school performance, the authors reason that there are few incentives to manipulate the results or cheat, making the low -
stakes test results a reliable
measure of student performance (although it is also possible that schools and students won't prepare enough for a low -
stakes test to demonstrate their true abilities).
In their article, «The Relative Equitability of High -
Stakes Testing versus Teacher - Assigned Grades: An Analysis of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS),» Harvard Graduate School of Education researchers Robert T. Brennan and James S. Kim, and UMass Boston researchers Melodie Wenz - Gross and Gary N. Siperstein compared 736 student results on the MCAS with teacher - assigned grades in order to analyze the relative equitability of the two
measures across three subject areas — math, English, and science.
And they are the kinds of skills that aren't
measured by our current high -
stakes tests.
The wrong response to recognizing that
test scores fail to capture school quality sufficiently is to increase the set of high -
stakes measures we collect.
Assessment is, of course, a vital part of education, but the
stakes attached to these
tests are way out of balance when such a limited and imperfect
measure of achievement counts for more than all the assessments of all the students» teachers,» says Orfield.
Why The Atlanta
Testing Scandal Matters NPR, 8/17/14 [Professor] Daniel Koretz — an expert in educational testing, writes in Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us, that there are seven potential teacher responses to high - stake
Testing Scandal Matters NPR, 8/17/14 [Professor] Daniel Koretz — an expert in educational
testing, writes in Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us, that there are seven potential teacher responses to high - stake
testing, writes in
Measuring Up: What Educational
Testing Really Tells Us, that there are seven potential teacher responses to high - stake
Testing Really Tells Us, that there are seven potential teacher responses to high -
stakes test.
Some high schools will adopt their own high -
stakes testing systems to
measure and reward productivity.
As policymakers continue to pursue
measures that tie crucial decisions about students to tough new assessments, the National Research Council is sounding a warning about the use of such high -
stakes testing.
Tilles raises legitimate concerns about the use of these
tests — the quality of the
tests, their snapshot nature, the unintended consequences of their being high
stakes — but seems to forget that 20 % of the teacher score comes from «locally - selected
measures of student achievement» and that 60 % of evaluation is based on «other
measures.»
EW: What dies the NEA recommend, instead of high -
stakes testing, to
measure student progress and show more accountability?
School districts that want to start pay - for - performance programs for school leaders should look beyond high -
stakes student
tests as the primary
measure for awarding bonuses, a position paper released last week by the National Association of Secondary School Principals says.
And tying high -
stakes external consequences to
measures of goals, like
test scores, can lead to unproductive behaviors.
To sum up: 1) low -
stakes tests appear to
measure something meaningful that shows up in long - run outcomes; 2) we don't know nearly as much about high -
stakes exams and long - run outcomes; and 3) there doesn't seem to be a strong correlation between
test - score gain and other
measures of quality at either the teacher or school level.
As we continue to study choice - based policies in K — 12 education, one challenge we must confront is the push - pull created by high -
stakes accountability
measures designed to assess schools, students, and educators, based solely on
test scores — an area where choice proponents and opponents often find common ground.
This camp claims that
tests, as currently administered, are the only fair and «objective»
measure of progress and should determine all or most high -
stakes decisions.
Educators in Illinois Park Ridge - Niles School District 64 could have been content with their strong high -
stakes test scores and not looked beyond what those
tests measured.
The authors suggest that other states learn from «the danger of relying on statewide
test scores as the sole
measure of student achievement when these scores are used to make high -
stakes decisions about teachers and schools as well as students.»
Standardized high -
stakes tests also don't
measure school improvement perfectly, and they shouldn't be the only accountability device we use.
Although 11 educators were convicted of cheating on state
tests (and it would likely have been 12 if not for the death of former Superintendent Beverly Hall), the city made remarkable improvements on low -
stakes measures of educational progress such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
On the left, some of the opposition to Common Core and its assessments is related to broader resistance to high -
stakes testing, the linking of student scores to teacher evaluations, and other reform
measures such as school choice, which some see as «corporate school reform.»
In a bracing new book that might be seen as a capstone to that work, Koretz excoriates our current reliance on high -
stakes testing as a fraud — an expensive and harmful intervention that does little to improve the practices it purports to
measure, instead feeding a vicious cycle of pointless
test prep.
PBS» Frontline offers an easily navigable explanation of high -
stakes testing that includes basic information about what
tests measure, how they're developed and scored, specific tips for parents, and links to additional resources.
The challenge for educators and policymakers will be to develop a system that captures the obvious benefits of high -
stakes testing as a means of providing incentives while minimizing the possible distortions that these
measures induce.
Specifically, we've called for giving teachers tools to use assessments to inform instruction, minimizing
test prep (which research suggests does not necessarily lead to increased
test scores), focusing on student growth rather than absolute proficiency, and using
test scores as only one
measure among many in high -
stakes decisions.
They
measured each state's use of high -
stakes testing to reward or sanction schools, and developed a zero - to - five scale to rank each state's system.
Although 11 educators were convicted of cheating on state
tests, the city made remarkable improvements on low -
stakes measures of educational progress such as NAEP.
Assessment Reform Victories 2016: Less
Testing, Lower
Stakes, Better Learning
Measures was produced by the National Center for Fair & Open
Testing (FairTest).
High -
stakes testing is a «failed policy initiative» that does not produce gains on other
measures of student learning, researchers at Arizona State University in Tempe argue in a recent paper.
This is historic because it is the first time that a legislative body has sent a clear directive to the DOE, NYSED and Governor that high
stakes standardized
tests must be replaced by multiple
measures.
If you Google «how to
measure student performance,» one paper you will NEVER see is «a single high
stakes standardized
test.»
However, the problem with NCLB as it is currently enacted is not the accountability requirements but the
measure used to assess accountability, high -
stakes testing.
That law ushered in high -
stakes testing to
measure student progress in reading and math between the third and eighth grades.
I have not seen or heard of a high -
stakes test that
measures the proficiency of friending, sharing photos, tagging, liking a comment, sending messages / gifts, or any other social aspect of network awareness.
Assessment professionals are clear that single
test scores are not reliable or adequate
measures of student progress and should not be used for high -
stakes decisions.
It sure is, say local opt - out activists, who oppose so - called school reform
measures — including high -
stakes tests used to evaluate teachers — that they say are designed to foster private alternatives and ultimately dismantle public education.
Here is the description of Opt Out Orlando taken from their site: «Opt Out Orlando advocates for multiple
measures of authentic assessments, such as a portfolio, non-high
stakes standardized
tests (Iowa
Test of Basic Standards (ITBS) or the Stanford Achievement
Test (SAT10)-RRB-, which are used to inform teachers» instruction of their students and which do not result in punitive consequences for students, teachers and schools.
A rethinking of promotion and enrollment policies so that high -
stakes decisions for students are made using multiple
measures and not a single
test score.
For example, using the Baseball Card, which is an ad - hoc reporting tool available in ADMS and Unify, we can look at how students performed on high -
stakes tests, district benchmark assessments, and other
measures including the SAT, reading comprehension, and course grades.
In the past, informal homework was one
measure; high
stakes testing was another.
State high
stakes tests of achievement are criterion - referenced
tests that are aligned with the state's standards,
measuring whether children actually have mastered the skills that are prescribed for the students» particular grade level.
While ESSA required states to add in a couple of additional outcome
measures of students and schools, the overwhelming weight of accountability is still upon a single standardized
test by which to make important and often high -
stakes judgments about students, schools, and districts.
When high
stakes are attached to
measures, Campbell's Law says the
measures will be corrupted (e.g., by changing the way teachers are assigned to students, increased teaching to the
test, etc.).
Our Computer - Adaptive
Tests provide a reliable
measure of broad achievement and predict high -
stakes test outcomes with high accuracy.
The initiative provides a useful model for how researchers and administrators can work together to design,
test, and refine low -
stakes measures of student mindsets, using them to provide struggling schools with additional resources instead of sanctions.
The pendulum swing toward, and now away, from high -
stakes test accountability in
measuring educational progress «taught us all that balance is important.
NUT general secretary Christine Blower said her union has «long argued that league tables, high -
stakes testing and other accountability
measures have a negative effect on children and young people».