Today’s New York Times contained an article summarizing a recent research study evaluating the consequences of high stakes testing. A summary of this summary might state that while connecting significant consequences to standards-related examinations may improve performance on the exams, other indicators of academic achievement (ACT or SAT tests, graduation rates) may be unaffected or worse may demonstrate significant declines. While this study will likely be closely scrutinized and the methodology criticized, the implication that high stages testing leads to a narrowing of the curriculum or the squeezing out of marginal students is disturbing.
The most recent volume of Review of Educational Research arrived today. Volume 72 (3) is a special issue devoted to “Standards-Based Reforms and Accountability.” In the editor’s introduction to the special issue, the editor states that it is time to examine “… the extant literature in a time of increasing polarization of views about the desirability and consequences of the accountability movement and of educational reform in general.
