January 2002 — Industry Perspective
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Forecasting and Managing Student Achievement on High-Stakes Tests
How will your students perform on their state assessment this year? What if, today, you could glimpse students' performances on test day? What would you do differently between now and then to improve learning and raise achievement for each student? As more and more states attach high stakes to their assessments, those questions become increasingly important to teachers and administrators eager to help their students and schools succeed in today's accountability-driven environment.
The Debate Over High-Stakes Tests
The standards and accountability movement continues to gain momentum across the nation. Today, nearly every state in the nation has set academic standards. All 50 states test students to measure how well they're learning. Testing also forms a cornerstone of President George W. Bush's education agenda.
Increasingly, teachers and administrators are held accountable for test results through published test scores, school ratings, school report cards and the tying of school funding to performance. Students, too, are held accountable as many must pass high-stakes tests to be promoted to the next grade level, earn course credit and graduate. At the heart of this movement lies a central goal: to improve student achievement. While everyone supports this goal, not everyone agrees on the best way to assess achievement, particularly when it comes to high-stakes tests.
Supporters of high-stakes testing say that it can be a powerful tool to change classroom and school practices for the better. They assert that the tests provide a clear, unbiased view of student performance from school to school, year to year. They also believe that achievement data from the tests provide educators with valuable diagnostic information to improve classroom practices and student learning. In addition, they contend that setting high expectations - holding all students accountable to the same standards - leads to achievement gains.
Conversely, opponents argue that no single assessment should hold so much weight. They say that high-stakes tests force teachers to narrow the focus of their curriculum to concentrate on what is tested, to the detriment of other topics. They contend that too much class time is spent on test preparation, and that emphasis on the test reduces room for the teachers' creativity and the students' enjoyment of learning. In addition, they assert that many tests do not adequately match state standards and are not an accurate reflection of student learning.
Both sides of the debate present valid points. While the debate rages on, however, schools must continue demonstrating achievement gains.
The Correlation Between Student Progress and Performance
As educators strive to show significant gains each year for their schools, they seek more from their print and electronic curriculum products. Many companies that provide curriculum products publish correlations that show the relationship between their curriculum and the relevant standards or tests. For the past few years that feature has been an important consideration in districts' purchasing decisions. Today, however, from the district's perspective it is only part of the solution.
