The Inevitable Corruption of Indicators and Educators Through High-Stakes Testing - Click Here
Press Release - Click Here
The Education Policy Studies Laboratory (EPSL) would like to call your attention to The Inevitable Corruption of Indicators and Educators Through High-Stakes Testing, released by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice
EAST LANSING, Mich. (Friday, March 18, 2005)— America’s public schools are setting goals and making harmful, irreversible decisions based on test results that in an increasing number of cases can’t be trusted, said an independent study from the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University.
The report, made possible by a grant from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice, determined that the pressure of high-stakes tests is forcing school districts to take short cuts to avoid being labeled as failing for not meeting certain benchmarks. As a result, their scores are subject to corruption.
“Policy makers have oversold the public on the notion that high-stakes test scores are the best way to hold schools accountable,” said Teri Moblo, director of the Great Lakes Center. “Because of No Child Left Behind and other measures, school districts know that the results of one or two tests determine if they are considered successful. This creates enormous pressure on educators and their students, because long-term decisions are being made based on scores that can’t be trusted.”
David Berliner and Sharon Nichols, co-authors of the report, The Inevitable Corruption of Indicators and Educators Through High-Stakes Testing, point to examples of how unbridled pressure to reach unrealistic goals, whether in the boardroom, on the playing field, or in our own government, can inevitably lead to a “beat-the-system” mentality.
“Now we see this kind of mentality seeping into our schools, where future generations are training merely to beat the system,” Berliner said. “Learning subject matter in depth is no longer the goal of schools in high-stakes states. We are witnessing proof of a well known social science law, which basically says the greater the pressure to perform at a certain level, the more likely people will find a way to distort and corrupt the system to achieve favorable results.”
Drs. Berliner and Nichols identified 10 trends that outline the consequences of high-stakes testing, which ultimately all negatively impact the quality of education for our nation’s children. The trends are:
• Administrator and Teacher Cheating
• Student Cheating
• Exclusion of Low-Performance Students from Testing
• Misrepresentation of Student Dropouts
• Teaching to the Test
• Narrowing the Curriculum
• Conflicting Accountability Ratings
• Questions about the Meaning of Proficiency
• Declining Teacher Morale
• Score Reporting Errors
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35 educators indicted in Atlanta cheating scandal
"Former
Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall
was the leader of a corrupt organization that used
students’ test scores to earn bonuses if they rose, or
intimidation and termination if they fell,
according to a 65-count indictment returned Friday.
“If
a school achieved 70 percent or more of its targets, all employees at
the school received a bonus,”
the indictment said. “Additionally, if certain
system-wide targets were achieved, Beverly
Hall
herself received a substantial bonus.”
