High Stakes Testing

subject Type Homework Help
subject Pages 3
subject Words 968
subject School St Thomas University
subject Course Curriculum Development

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High Stakes Testing
Provoked by the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, pushed forward by President Clinton’s Goals
2000 plan, and strengthened by both Presidents Bush and President Obama, the standards and
accountability movement and specifically high-stakes standardized tests has become a fixture
in schools around the nation (IDEA, 2008). These high stakes testing are used to make important
decisions about all individuals and groups within the educational system. This includes: students,
teachers, schools, and districts. High stakes tests determine punishments, rewards, advancement,
and compensation. As we see the rise of this trend, we are also seeing students become
unmotivated, teachers teaching to a test, and corruption of the system.
Student Achievement and Motivation
Currently, there are eighteen states that use exams to grant or withhold diplomas, Texas being
one of them. The experiences of these states foreshadow how a nationwide program of high
stakes testing will effect student achievement. Researchers have found that when rewards and
sanctions are attached to performance on tests, students become less intrinsically motivated to
learn and less likely to engage in critical thinking (Amrein & Berliner, 2003). In order for
students to be motivated to take and perform well on these tests, they must have a “buy in”. This
means they need to have a reason to take and perform well and have the opportunity to succeed.
Imagine a third grade dyslexia student facing the STAAR for the first time. He is one and a half
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