This National Reading Conference Policy Brief provides information related to high stakes reading tests and reading assessment. High stakes reading tests are those with highly consequential outcomes for students, teachers, and schools. These outcomes may include student promotion or retention, student placement in reading groups, school funding decisions, labeling of schools as successful or failing, and the degree of community support for a school. The Policy Brief focuses on the popularity of high stakes tests, the uses and misuses of high stakes tests, and the consequences of high stakes testing. Although many believe high stakes tests to be central to efforts to raise school accountability and student achievement, these tests are accompanied by numerous liabilities. These include the following: (1) High stakes tests are used with increasing frequency in spite of the fact that there is no research that links increased testing with increased reading achievement; 2) High stakes tests are limited in their ability to describe students' reading achievement; (3) High stakes tests may be harmful to students' self-esteem and motivation; (4) High stakes tests confine and constrict reading curriculum; (5) High stakes tests alienate teachers; (6) High stakes tests disrupt high quality teaching and learning; and (7) High stakes tests demand significant allocation of time and money that could be otherwise used to increase reading achievement.