The Paradoxes of High Stakes Testing

The book's goal is to clarify for parents the public and policy makers what high stakes testsare and how their use affects our schools children and society. It explores the various useslimitations and paradoxical consequences of high stakes testing.The present context of testing and the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind make theproposed book timely and important. Current testing programs provide valuable information toteachers parents and policy-makers about students schools and school systems. Butparadoxically these programs have unintended yet predictable negative consequences for manystudents teachers and schools. It is essential that the public and policy-makers understand the scope and impacts that result from theinherent paradoxical nature of high-stakes testing.Testing is viewed by policy makers across party lines as an objective measure of student attainment and has become their toolof choice to drive educational reform and hold children teachers schools and districts accountable. Bipartisan support for test-basedaccountability is firm. For example on January of 2005 President Bush called on Congress to extend NCLB testing in math and scienceto freshmen sophomores and juniors citing poor performance among high school students as a warning and a call to action. (NYT 01/13/05) Senator Kennedy a critic of the President nonetheless supported the President's proposed high school testing provisions.