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9486 in the collection
Point/Counterpoint: Too Much Testing
Are high school exit exams necessary benchmarks or are they just another unfair barrier to kids' futures? These education policy experts square off over this controversial piece of high-stakes testing reform.
POINT
By Lisa Guisbond and Monty Neill
Tracey Newhart, a 20-year-old Massachusetts high school student with Down Syndrome, is an award-winning cook who wants to attend Johnson & Wales University, in Rhode Island, get a degree, and open her own restaurant. She has overcome many obstacles to fulfill her high school's local graduation requirements. Unfortunately, one huge hurdle still stands between Tracey and her goals: the Massachusetts high school exit exam.
Tracey has failed the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test twice and has, therefore, been denied a high school diploma. Her parents are thinking about moving her to a state without an exit exam so she can earn a diploma and carry on with her promising life.
Supporters of high-stakes testing promote examples of other students, some with disabilities like Tracey's, who have passed state exit exams. They say these students now have "meaningful" diplomas that indicate they have mastered "a high-quality state curriculum" and are "ready for life and work in the 21st century." They say pass rates are up, and even disadvantaged groups of students are doing better on the tests.
Is education better because of high-stakes testing? A growing body of evidence from researchers says no.
High-stakes testing degrades rather than improves the quality of education. Researchers have consistently found that high-stakes testing puts pressure on educators to teach and on students to memorize vast amounts of information so they can pass the tests. Scores may rise, but test preparation crowds out more worthwhile learning that fosters critical thinking, in-depth exploration, and creativity, as well as basic skills.
>>The negative consequences of such testing fall hardest on those who need help most. Schools that serve low-income or minority students are most likely to narrow curricula because of intense pressure to improve test results. While schools in higher-income communities can offer art, science, history, and music and still maintain their test scores, schools with students who score low on such tests end up offering little more than intensive test preparation.
>>When high-stakes tests come in, graduation rates decline. Studies find a correlation between high-stakes testing and declining graduation rates, increased dropout rates, greater grade retention, more students being expelled (in some cases to drive out low scorers), and increased exemptions of disabled students.
>>In states with exit exams, the students who drop out, fail, or are held back are disproportionately low-income, minority, special needs, or have limited English proficiency. By denying diplomas to students such as Tracey Newhart, even if they have passed their courses and succeeded by other measures, high-stakes testing makes their lives much harder.
>>Gains on these tests do not correlate with results of other exams, such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the SAT or ACT. In a 2002 study, two Arizona State University researchers found that, in states with exit exams, scores on these other tests often declined or grew less quickly relative to the nation as a whole. This calls into question whether students have learned something valuable and transferable, or just narrow information demanded by their state's high-stakes tests.
>>Pressure to improve scores leads to manipulation of data and cheating. The most recent example of this is Houston, the "model" school district formerly run by U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige, now being investigated for not counting close to 3,000 dropouts. It appears district employees, under pressure to improve the district's accountability rating, filed fraudulent reports.
Proponents of high-stakes testing act as though test-driven "reform" is the only way to improve schools. The fact is, there are other ways to promote high-quality schooling and accountability. Maine and Nebraska are focusing on designing local assessment systems based on multiple measures of performance to guide improvement, certify student achievement, and provide public accountability. Rhode Island students can use a range of assessments to demonstrate they have met state graduation standards.
Many award-winning schools serving disadvantaged youth, such as the small schools associated with the work of Boston educator Deborah Meier, don't focus on test scores at all, with excellent results.
Educators and civil-rights advocates are promoting alternative approaches to making high-stakes decisions about students and schools. These revolve around using classroom-based information about student achievement combined with external reviews of schools and limited, low-stakes standardized testing. This will lead to fairer decisions based on more comprehensive information without the damage caused by testing. Around the nation, the toll from high-stakes testing continues to rise. In response, thousands of students and their families are asking why they should be kept from pursuing their dreams solely because of their inability to pass a set of standardized tests.
Lisa Guisbond works on testing reform in the public schools at the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (www.fairtest.org), where Monty Neill, Ed.D., is the executive director.
COUNTERPOINT
By Kirk Schroder
About a year ago, I went to Virginia's Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to renew my driver's license. Besides taking an eye exam, I had to take a written test. I received a booklet with the information I would be tested on. DMV officials said that I could have as much time as needed to study before taking the test. I didn't bother with the booklet. I thought I'd sail through. Instead, I failed by one point.
As a result, I couldn't get my license renewed and had just one more day to pass the test before my license expired. Yet I didn't challenge the validity of the test or the absurdity of the result, given my good driving record and my years on the road. Instead, I took the booklet home and studied it. With some very real test anxiety the following day, I took and passed the test. And guess what? I knew more about driving a car than I did the day before.
Throughout our society, we routinely require tests to determine if people are ready for certain responsibilities and/or have attained a certain level of education. In fact, a basic tenet of education involves assessment and then responding appropriately to the information received from assessment. Just as society assesses brain surgeons so that they will not harm others, society also assesses students for things like basic literacy so that they can function and succeed in the working world.
Somehow, for some in public education, the concept of testing what students are supposed to learn in school—and accounting for their academic progress—has become a bad thing. As a result, today's educators are conflicted about what is better: giving diplomas to high school students who can't pass a high school-level reading or writing exam, or not giving them diplomas until we help them read and write at a high-school level. What used to be obvious is now blurry to some in public education.
As a caveat, I strongly believe that state-level high-stakes testing programs, like those occurring around the country, must be fair and have sound policies guiding them. I also believe it is possible that some of those programs may not be fair may and not be based on well-thought-out policies. Some criticisms of certain programs have merit.
However, many critics of today's standards-based education reform movement prefer to confuse the concept of fairness in test policies with whether a test should have any undesired consequences. Their logic argues that if a test has a perceived negative consequence, then something is wrong or it's bad for students. Thus, the presence of meaningful consequences in test programs becomes the issue rather than simply asking if policies regarding tests (that have meaningful consequences) are fair or not. As president of Virginia's Board of Education for four years, I learned to distinguish between the former and the latter. During my tenure, the state board was deep in the details of implementing Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) program, which included testing policies. We worked hard to implement sound and fair policies for this program.
For example, there is tremendous flexibility for students to select from more than 140 test options to earn state-required graduation credits, including advance placement exams, International Baccalaureate exams, and many career and technical certifications and licensure exams. The tests are unlimited in time. There are accommodations for students with special needs. If they fail, students can retake the exam as often as necessary in order to graduate. Students can even appeal test results in certain subject areas at the local level.
Perhaps the most important lesson in the debate about state exit exams is that the details of such programs are far more important than broad generalizations that polarize people into absolutes on this issue. Thus, both federal and state policymakers have a heavy duty to command such details and make adjustments as needed to ensure the fairness and success of such programs for students.
A test for the sake of a test is not a good thing. The good comes from what is done with the results of these tests, including assistance, accountability, and so forth. When public education loses its will to assess not only students but itself, it loses a very important and valuable tool.
Kirk T. Schroder, Ph.D., served as president of the Virginia Board of Education from 1998 to 2002. He is currently an attorney in private practice in Richmond, Virginia.
— Lisa Guisbond Monty Neil, and Kirk T. Schroder
Too Much Testing?
Scholastic Administrator Website
2003-11-
http://www.scholastic.com/administrator/novdec03/articles.asp?article=point
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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