About the Book
Published by the Century Foundation Press as part of a series called Civil Rights in a New Era, this book makes clear the importance of high standards and accountability systems. But support for standards and accountability systems should not be equated with support for high-stakes tests. These are tests that are used to determine whether a student graduates, gains access to challenging curriculum, or is promoted, or whether schools or educators are rewarded or penalized. Most of the contributors to the volume have found evidence that policies that focus on high-stakes testing corrupt educational reform and undermine achievement, especially for at-risk students. State and federal policymakers are increasingly pushing such tests as a panacea for the nation’s educational concerns.
–From Press Release, June 20, 2001
Table of Contents
- “High-Stakes Testing Policies: Examining Their Assumptions and Consequences” by Mindy L. Kornhaber and Gary Orfield
- “The Development and Impact of High-Stakes Testing” by Gary Natriello and Aaron M. Pallas
- “High-Stakes Testing and Economic Productivity” by Henry M. Levin
- “The Impacts of Minimum Competency Exam Graduation Requirements on College Attendance and Early Labor” by John H. Bishop and Ferran Mane
- “The Adverse Impact of High-Stakes Testing on Minority Students: Evidence from One Hundred Years of Test Data” by George Madaus and Marguerite Clarke
- “Do High-Stakes Graduation Tests Improve Learning Outcomes? Using State-level NAEP Data to Evaluate the Effects of Mandatory Graduation Tests” by Monty Neill, with Keith Gayler
- “The Harmful Impact of the TAAS System of Testing in Texas: Beneath the Accountability Rhetoric” by Linda McNeil and Angela Valenzuela
- “Should We End Social Promotion? Truth and Consequences” by Robert M. Hauser
- “High-Stakes Testing and Civil Rights: Standards of Appropriate Test Use and a Strategy for Enforcing Them” by Jay P. Heubert
