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4. Effects of High-Stakes Testing and Standards
Pages 38-45

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From page 38...
... Well constructed and properly used standards-based tests, by providing data about the outcomes of educational programs, can assist policy makers, administrators, and teachers in ensuring that all students are offered what they need to meet established goals and to make needed improvements in teaching, curricula, and other program elements. However, by themselves, tests do not improve student achievement.
From page 39...
... SOURCE: National Research Council, 2000:20.
From page 40...
... Of particular importance in the context of a discussion of dropouts is the need for measures to: • ensure that at every grade level early monitoring and intervention, remediation, and other supports are in place for students at risk for failing a test being used for a high-stakes purpose; • ensure that necessary changes in teaching and curriculum have been made so that students have adequate opportunity to learn the material on which they are being tested before such tests are used in making promotion or graduation decisions; • ensure that students for whom English is a second language or who have disabilities that affect their schooling are tested only in ways that comport with professional standards regarding inclusion and accommodations; and • ensure that students are given sufficient opportunities to demonstrate mastery of required content and skills -- that is, that a test is not used as the sole criterion for high-stakes decisions about students. HIGH SCHOOL EXIT EXAMINATIONS It is possible that exit or graduation tests play a role in students' decisions about dropping out.
From page 41...
... While an association between test failure and dropping out is often evident, the committee found that a clear causal connection between exit testing and dropout rates has not been conclusively established (National Research Council, 1999:174)
From page 42...
... Test scores may reflect actual differences in achievement, which could, in turn, be the result of deficiencies in or lack of access to particular coursework or instruction (National Research Council, 1999:5)
From page 43...
... A significant body of research has addressed the relationship between retaining students in grade -- that is, not promoting them to the next grade -- and their subsequent educational progress. The National Research Council report (1999)
From page 44...
... Conclusion: Given the difficulty and cost of preventing students from dropping out once the process of disengagement from school has begun, it is clear that neither requiring a student to retake the grade nor promoting a failing student is, by itself, a sufficient response to his or her academic difficulty. The value and importance of addressing struggling students' difficulties directly and specifically as soon as they are apparent are paramount.
From page 45...
... However, there is reason to believe that both exit testing and other high-stakes testing may sometimes be used in ways that have unintended harmful effects on students at risk for academic failure because of poverty, lack of proficiency in English, disability, and membership in population subgroups that have been educationally disadvantaged. Changes in dropout rates, or in the characteristics of the students who drop out, may be signs both of the effects -- positive or negative, intended or not -- of new standards or exit exams and of how well schools are helping students to meet higher standards.


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