High-stakes testing counterproductive, studies suggest

1/14/03 - Now that states and school districts are gearing up for a huge increase in high-stakes testing, as required by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, two new studies suggest this effort might be counterproductive.

The studies were conducted by the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University for the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice, a think tank based in Michigan.

"The impact high-stakes tests and high school graduation exams have on academic achievement is, at best, ambiguous," says co-author Audrey L. Amrein, who wrote the reports with David C. Berliner. "Contrary to popular thought, high-stakes tests do not increase academic achievement."

"As America prepares to launch a massive testing program in the effort to improve our schools," Berliner warns, "the relative failure of high-stakes tests to achieve their intended purpose and their numerous negative consequences must be considered."

The Impact of High-Stakes Tests on Student Academic Performance examines data from 28 states where high-stakes testing programs already are in place. These programs include tests that students must pass to advance to the next grade and exit exams students must pass to receive a high school diploma.

Amrein and Berliner compared results from those state tests with the performance of students on other widely recognized measures of student performance, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), American College Test (ACT), Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and Advanced Placement (AP) exams.

The study found that students in states with high-stakes testing programs performed no better on the ACT, SAT, AP, and NAEP tests than students in other parts of the nation. There was no evidence of improved achievement on these tests after states implemented high-stakes testing programs.

In fact, after adopting high-stakes testing programs, twice as many states slipped against the national average on the SAT and ACT as states that improved.

The researchers also found average ACT, SAT, and AP scores declined in states that implemented high-stakes graduation exams.

The study suggests that high-stakes tests might actually inhibit the academic achievement of students.

When scores on high-stakes tests rise, the researchers say, it's because teachers focus more attention on getting students to pass the tests. "Such training does not appear to have any meaningful carryover effect" on other measures of achievement, Amrein says.

"Teachers are focusing so intently on the high-stakes tests that they are neglecting other things that are ultimately more important," she says. "In theory, high-stakes tests should work, because they advance the notions of high standards and accountability. But students are being trained so narrowly, . . . they are having a hard time branching out and understanding general problem solving."

The other study, An Analysis of Some Unintended and Negative Consequences of High-Stakes Testing, found increased dropout rates and lower graduation rates in 16 states with high-stakes graduation exams.

The study found that schools suspend or expel higher numbers of low-performing students before testing days or reclassify them as in special education or of limited English proficiency so they will be exempt from testing.

The study also found:

• higher rates of lower-performing students retained in the same grade in the years before the exit exams were administered, possibly to better prepare them for the tests;

• reduced offerings in art, music, science, social studies, and physical education, because these subjects are less often tested;

• higher numbers of teachers, particularly in urban schools, are "teaching to the test" by limiting instruction to only those things that are sure to be tested, requiring students to spend hours memorizing facts, and drilling students on test-taking strategies;

• increased flight from public schools by teachers who sought to escape state testing mandates "because state rules make them feel compromised as professionals"; and

• instances of cheating by teachers and other school employees under pressure to raise test scores.