Focus on High Stakes Testing

The Center has funded a series of research projects on high stakes testing as it relates to students achievement.

• High Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Problems for the No Child Left Behind Act- by David Berliner, Arizona State University, Sharon Nichols, University of Texas, San Antonio and Gene Glass, Arizona State University
  
  
• The Impact of the Adequate Yearly Progress Requirement of the Federal "No Child Left Behind" Act on Schools in the Great Lakes Region- by David Garcia, E.W. Wiley and William Mathis.
  
  
• The Inevitable Corruption of Indicators and Educators Through High-Stakes Testing- by David Berliner, Arizona State University and Sharon Nichols, University of Texas, San Antonio
  
  
• An Analysis of Some Unintended and Negative Consequences of High-Stakes Testing- by Audry L Amrein, & David C Berliner, Arizona State University

MEAP's March Madness debunks value of high-stakes testing
Saturday, April 01, 2006
By Teri Battaglieri

Special To The Press

In public high school gymnasiums across Michigan, March Madness is when all eyes focus on the performance of basketball players and their coaches in one game that determines the success or failure of the entire season.

In Michigan's public school classrooms, March Madness has a different meaning -- it's the time when educators, students, parents and legislators focus on the annual release of MEAP (Michigan Education Assessment Program) results, an event that determines the success or failure of the academic year.

The recent release of MEAP scores showed that as Michigan students advance from elementary grades to middle school to high school, their math achievement scores are declining. "Middle schoolers do poorly in math," was published March 10 in the Detroit News.

Debate over how to reverse the declines generated front-page headlines statewide, ranging from calls for more teacher training to strengthening school curriculums to offering incentives for increased test scores.

A key point is lost in this discussion, however: High-stakes tests like the MEAP are not an accurate indicator of how much students are actually learning, do not measure academic progress throughout the course of the entire school year, and in fact, can be harmful to students.

Recent findings of a research study funded by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice show that high-stakes tests have many negative and unintended consequences, including an increase in drop-out rates, a decrease in graduation rates, a narrowing of curriculum being taught, and more teachers leaving the profession. Recent reports also indicate state-reported test results are unreliable due to corruption by cheating, teaching to the test and score reporting errors.

Every state must administer a test such as the MEAP each year because of the federal No Child Left Behind law. Estimates from the Government Accountability Office study examining the cost of testing provisions, estimated these tests could cost from $1.9 billion to $5.3 billion to administer between 2002-2008, at a time when resources are limited and school districts are cutting programs, staff and supplies to make ends meet.

A better approach would be to measure student achievement throughout the course of the entire school year using multiple assessment tools, including the MEAP.

Michigan also should direct available resources to addressing those areas which most impact student achievement, such as poverty, lack of quality health care and limited preschool opportunities.

Convincing evidence demonstrates that high-stakes testing is not accomplishing its intended goal -- to increase student achievement.

March Madness belongs in the gym, not the classroom. It's time to abandon policies that force Michigan's public education system to rely on high-stakes testing as the primary measure of success.

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