Running head: DOES PREPPING FOR HIGH-STAKES TESTS INTERFERE WITH

Does Prepping for High-Stakes Tests Interfere with Teaching? Christin Hale AED 200 September 9, 2012 Kelly Flemm

DOES PREPPING FOR HIGH-STAKES TESTS INTERFERE WITH Does Prepping for High-Stakes Tests Interfere with Teaching? Is teaching the test a bad thing? This is a very serious debate that is going on in the school system today. The problem that students, teachers, and parents have with high stakes

testing is first they want to know are they necessary. Most people think that this test puts a lot of pressure on the students and keeps them from doing a good job. Most students have difficulty in taking test. Another drawback this area is does preparing for these tests affect teaching. Moat think preparing for high stakes testing is an important part of school. Honestly how important is high stakes testing? High stakes testing can be any test that has a defined assessment and a barrier of passing or failing. Every student is required to take a high stakes test and pass in order to move on. Test that are called High Stakes they are used to make a major decision about a student. These test are very important test, they can override other factors with the students curriculum such as Grade Point Average. High stakes test consist of multiple choice form, but can include open ended questions. When the student takes a high stakes test they do not get a pass or fail grade. There are five Achievement levels that they can get. Advance is the highest, is when the student has demonstrated superior performance. Then you have Mastery this is when you have competency over challenging subjects. Basic is when the student has only fundamental knowledge. Approaching Basic is partially fundamental knowledge. The lowest you can get is Unsatisfactory this is when the student does not have skills for the next level. For the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program test, students in the 4th and 8th grade take this test. This test measures their skills in English, Math, Science, and Social Studies. They must score a Basic or above in either English or Math and Approaching Basics or above in the

DOES PREPPING FOR HIGH-STAKES TESTS INTERFERE WITH

other subjects in order to advance to the next level. If they do not meet the requirement then they can attend summer school or repeat the grade again. Students in 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th take the iLEAP. This is designed to measure the progress of the student. This test does not decide whether they will remain in the same grade. According to (Louisiana Department of Education) the iLEAP is referred to as an "integrated" LEAP because it combines a norm referenced test, which compares a student's test results to the performance of students in a national sample, with a criterion-referenced test, which reports student results in terms of the state's standards. Students in 10th and 11th grade must take the Graduation Exit Exam. They must score Approaching Basic or in Math, English, Science, and Social Studies. In the 10th grade they take the Math and English. In the 11th they take the Science and Social Studies. Freshmen who entered high school in the school year 2010 2011 will no longer take the Graduation Exit Exam. They must pass three End of Course test. The categories are English I or English II, Algebra I or Geometry, and Biology or American History. The grading scale has also changed. There are four achievement levels, Excellent, Good, Fair, and Needs Improvement. They must score Fair or above in order to receive a standard high school diploma. The No child left behind act went into effect in 2002; this passage has put testing on the front burner, and has caused schools and teachers to be held accountable. With all the talk of teacher accountability the focus on standardized testing, more pressure is being put on teachers. Each State chooses its own standards of the tests. The schools that arent doing well with the testing, and dont show that their students are making adequate progress are subject to federal sanctions, including loss of federal funds, providing free tutoring, allowing students to transfer to another school, and if none of this works, a complete reconstruction of the school. Because

DOES PREPPING FOR HIGH-STAKES TESTS INTERFERE WITH testing is focused more in reading and math, some critics say that other subjects such as social

studies and the arts are getting less attention. There has been pressure for students to spend more time preparing to pass the state tests, that recess has either been cut, or taken away. Since the No Child Left Behind law, there has been much talk about aligning instruction, curriculum, standards and assessment. To sum it all up, this means that teachers and students will have a clear idea of what they are expected to learn. The state will provide textbooks and curriculum that goes hand in hand with the standards. In 2007 a survey was done using civics, government, and social studies teachers told that seventy five percent teaching current event was due to the standerized testing for the reason. NCLB tests are drastically narrowing the curriculum. A national 2007 study by the Center on Education Policy reported that since 2001, 44% of school districts had reduced the time spent on science, social studies and the arts by an average of 145 minutes per week in order to focus on reading and math. (Standardized Tests, 2012) Standardized test think that every student taking the test read in the same manner. This is not the case; a student with a disability consumes information differently. Students with disability are required to take the same test as those without a disability. They receive little accommodation and this is provided as part of their Individualized Education Plan according to (Standardized Tests, 2012). They do not have a hard time answering the question, reading it is what gives them trouble. These laws guarantee students with learning disabilities the right to reasonable accommodations on standardized assessments so that the examinations accurately measure the skills they are designed to measure, rather than the limitations caused by the disability. (LD ACCESS Foundation, Inc, 2001). In the state of Louisiana they have Alternative assessments for disabled students. The first one is LEAP Alternative Assesment, Level 1. LEAP Alternative Assesment, Level 1 is an alternate assessment designed for students

DOES PREPPING FOR HIGH-STAKES TESTS INTERFERE WITH whos Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) address the state's academic Extended Standards and functional academic and life skills. Extended Standards are extensions of the state's content standards and address core academic skills that will be needed throughout life. (Alternate Assessments, 2011) Students who take this do not receive a diploma they will get a certificate of achievement. The second assessment is Leap Alternative Assessment, level 2, which is given to students who have academic disabilities. This test is similar to the iLEAP,

LEAP, and GEE. The only difference is that it has fewer questions, less reading, less writing, and the font is much bigger. They will phase this test out in 2014-2015. According to (Langenfeld, 1997) there has not been any studies done on student with disabilities. They are always been done in studies with non-challenged students. Standardized test are shown to be a captious measure of performance. These test cause traumatic stress to young children. When using test scores to pass or fail this encourage cheating. A 2001 study published by the Brookings Institution found that 50-80% of year-over-year test score improvements were temporary and "caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning... (Standardized Tests, 2012) These test only gather small part of what education is. According to (Standardized Tests, 2012) Gerald W. Bracey, PhD, qualities that standardized tests cannot measure include "creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy, self-awareness, self-discipline, leadership, civic-mindedness, courage, compassion, resourcefulness, sense of beauty, sense of wonder, honesty, integrity." When it comes to Teaching to the Test this replaces teaching skills with drill and kill learning. A study was done in 2007 and originates the pressure teachers felt to teach the test lead to declines in teaching higher thinking. The over

DOES PREPPING FOR HIGH-STAKES TESTS INTERFERE WITH use of these test can hurt teaching and learning by lowering the curriculum. So when it comes to standerized testing it can be more hurtful to the students and teacher than helpful. Standardized test ate reliable measures of achievement. Without these test policy makers would have to use test scored by the schools, in this case they could produce favorable results. According to (Standardized Tests, 2012) Michelle Rhee argues that using alternate tests for minorities or exempting children with disabilities would be unfair to those students: "You can't separate them, and to try to do so creates two, unequal systems, one with accountability and one

without it. This is a civil rights issue." Standardized test do not narrow the curriculum they focus on more important skills that students need to marketer. Higher standard for test are preparing students for higher education. One of the main advangates of standerized testing is the results are empirically documented. So the test scores can have a relative degree of clarity and reliability. This is what makes standerized testing useful for admissions purposes in higher education. Another advantage is aggregation. The US Department of Education stated in Nov. 2004 that "if teachers cover subject matter required by the standards and teach it well, then students will master the material on which they will be tested--and probably much more." (Standardized Tests, 2012) Standardized test help prevent social promotion in education. A Dec. 2004 paper by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research found Florida's 2002 initiative to end social promotion, holding back students who failed year-end standardized tests, improved those students' scores by 9% in math and 4% in reading after one year. (Standardized Tests, 2012) If these tests are so unreliable source of information the use would not be so widespread. Physicians, lawyers, realestate brokers and pilots all take high-stakes standardized tests to ensure they have the necessary knowledge for their professions. (Standardized Tests, 2012).

DOES PREPPING FOR HIGH-STAKES TESTS INTERFERE WITH In conclusion there have been many good points in this research. High stakes test are used to determine whether a student advances to the next level. How it affects those with disabilities. It shows what teacher and students views on the testing and how test are handled at higher levels. In my option from my research high stakes testing it great if you do it right and help those who need help.

Bibliography
Alternate Assessments. (2011). Retrieved from Louisiana Department of Education: http://www.doe.state.la.us/topics/alternate_assessments.html Standardized Tests. (2012, August 10). Retrieved from ProCon.org: http://standardizedtests.procon.org/ Langenfeld, K. L. (1997, January). NCEO Synthesis Report 26. Retrieved from High Stakes Testing for Students: Unanswered Questions and Implications for Students with Disabilities: http://www.cehd.umn.edu/NCEO/onlinepubs/archive/Synthesis/Synthesis26.htm LD ACCESS Foundation, Inc. (2001). DO NO HARM. Retrieved from Disablity Rights Association : http://www.dralegal.org/downloads/pubs/do_no_harm.pdf Louisiana Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from Louisiana Department of Education: http://www.louisianaschools.net/topics/act2_choice_law.html