Just like all the high-stakes tests that determine students' futures nowadays, The Chorizo Test is a standardized test rooted in the culture of the test makers. It was originally created to be used with students in teacher training programs to sensitize them to the pitfalls inherent in standardized pencil-and-paper tests, such as linguistic bias…

In this article we rethink validation within the complex contexts of high-stakes assessment. We begin by considering the utility of existing models for validation and argue that these models tend to overlook some of the complexities inherent to assessment use, including the multiple interpretations of assessment purposes and the potential…

Even though it often feels like standardized testing is a relatively recent phenomena, it has been around at least since the 1800s, when in China, those that wanted a government job were required to take a test on their expertise of Confucian philosophy and poetry. During the Industrial Revolution, standardized tests were a quick way to test large…

There's accountability and then there's the testing craze an iatrogenic practice that undermines real learning. Hedrick documents the negative effects of testing, giving teachers another weapon in their arsenal against mindless preparation for high-stakes tests.

Explores the basis of negative sentiments toward high-stakes student testing and current critiques of the practice from within the education profession. Provides evidence for 10 unintended, unrecognized, or unarticulated positive consequences. Also examines the relationship between high-stakes testing and accountability systems. (Author/SLD)

High-stakes testing and accountability in the United States cloak the real purpose of assessment--diagnosing learning to inform instruction. Standardized testing drives curricula in many states. Teachers may feel pressured to "teach to the test," although they know it is not best practice. The authors discuss how using several…

Discusses issues of validity in high-stakes testing, beginning with some purposes of a testing program and proceeding to some underlying assumptions about testing. Suggests four possible studies to address assumptions often ignored by asking various groups of people about testing. (SLD)

Explores how social, legal, and demographic forces threaten to dethrone the most widely used college entrance exam. New criticism focuses on the use of what is essentially an IQ test to measure students' ability to learn. (EV)

A historical perspective on high-stakes testing suggests that tests required for high school graduation will have mixed results for the putative value of high school diplomas. Graduation requirements are not likely to settle the general cultural confusion in the United States about the purpose of secondary education or a high school diploma. (SLD)

This essay discusses the uses and consequences of high-stakes tests, which are sometimes believed to interfere with high quality education. High-stakes tests put extreme pressure on students and can create a narrow curriculum with reduced instructional time because of test prepping. Using tests for high-stakes decisions causes problems because…

Uses of tests and assessments as key elements in 5 waves of educational reform during the past 50 years are reviewed. These waves include the role of tests in tracking and selection emphasized in the 1950s, the use of tests for program accountability in the 1960s, minimum competency testing programs of the 1970s, school and district accountability…

This National Reading Conference Policy Brief provides information related to high stakes reading tests and reading assessment. High stakes reading tests are those with highly consequential outcomes for students, teachers, and schools. These outcomes may include student promotion or retention, student placement in reading groups, school funding…

This brief addresses the benefits and concerns raised by the use of high stakes testing as the centerpiece of new accountability systems. It offers some recommendations for policymakers seeking to incorporate such tests into state accountability systems. High stakes tests can clarify and establish challenging performance expectations for students,…

This brief considers the use of high-stakes testing. Much of the fanfare accompanying "get tough" policies for failing students and schools has tempered as policymakers begin to see the complexity of raising student achievement dramatically in a short period of time. Education assessment systems are improving, but they are not as good as…

Describes three areas in which the graduate community is vulnerable to substandard practice when using Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) scores in decision processes: percentile versus raw scores, cut-off scores, and summed scores. Asserts that the graduate community is generally unaware that raw scores on the verbal, quantitative, and analytical…