Citing the results of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exams, author disputes conclusion in Skrla and others article that Texas high-stakes accountability system significantly increased educational equity and social justice for racial minority students. (PKP)

Asks several teachers what they have lost from their teaching or their classroom since the growth in mandated, standardized testing. Considers the ill effects of mandated testing, and names some educational essentials at risk of being lost while testing rules. Discusses what is lost in high-stakes multiple-choice testing of new teachers. (SG)

Suggests that the most dangerous component of President Bush's education plan is the imposition of high-stakes standardized testing on public school students, describing the country's national anti-testing movement and highlighting the movement against the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, which is led by such groups as the Coalition…

This study investigated teachers' assessment practices in a high-stakes testing environment. Questionnaires were administered to 168 practicing teachers earning a master's degree in education. In-depth interviews were conducted with five of these teachers. The results showed that teachers reported using more traditional, close-ended assessments…

The changing demographics within the nation's public schools present teachers with new challenges. According to the 2000 census, the state of Arkansas, for instance, experienced a 300 percent growth in its minority language populations since 1990. That means that educators in regions such as this, and across the nation, are faced with the dilemma…

Latino children living in the United States are not faring well in an educational system that increasingly is turning to "high-stakes" exams to make important decisions in the lives of students. While some argue that these exams have the potential to equalize educational opportunity, we review information that challenges this view. In this article…

This article reviews historical and contemporary policies, ideologies, and educational prescriptions for language-minority students. It notes language and literacy policies historically have been used as instruments of social control and that racism and linguistic intolerance have often been closely linked with antecedents in the colonial and…

Highlights a promising innovation, Michigan's college scholarship program for students who perform well on state tests. The scholarships are based on students' performance on an external exam that reflects the state's recommended curriculum. Georgia also has the merit-based Hope scholarship program. (MLF)

Teachers can implement effective strategies to assist test-anxious students. By being aware of the types of student with these traits, they can develop, modify, and implement various strategies into their teaching repertoires. Furthermore, teachers who employ formative factors, habitual prudence, purposeful learning experiences, and test-wise…

This book is a compelling indictment of the use of high-stakes assessments with punitive consequences in public schools. The authors trace the history of the policy and document the inequities for children of poverty that undergird high-stakes testing practices. Lack of dental and medical care, environmental violence, insufficient school funding,…

When a state test and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are both measuring the same construct, the achievement gaps between subgroups on both tests should be the same. However, if a teacher or school engages in "teaching to the test" then student performance may improve on one test but not on another. We hypothesized that…

Given current high-stakes uses of tests, one of the most pressing and difficult problems confronting the field of measurement is to develop better methods for distinguishing between meaningful gains in performance and score inflation. This study explores the potential usefulness of adapting differential item functioning (DIF) techniques for this…

This collection of articles delivers the knowledge and insights one needs to understand policymaking at many levels, by reviewing viewpoints in categories: (1) Policy-driven research; (2) Policy communications research; and (3) Critical policy research. Educators can use this book to learn how to analyze policy issues, engage in policymaking with…

In this article, the author discusses multiage education. Multiage education hailed as recently as 10 years ago as a promising way to restructure schools and boost student achievement but now has fallen on hard times. Interest in the issue has waned, with new research on the topic virtually nonexistent and attendance at national multiage…

In this paper, we address the issue of how teachers select primary and secondary texts for classroom use by focusing on two New York state middle school history teachers. Our field studies show that, although they teach diverse groups of students, each teacher chooses a wide variety of sources to develop classroom units and test preparation…