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High-stakes testing:
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- Student says graduation test has students "scared stiff"
- Studies find retention harms some children
- Background on the high school graduation test
By Sandra R. Brodnicki
Written for News & Views
School teachers and administrators have been put on notice: today’s 8th-graders, as members of the graduating class of 2003, will be required to pass each of four subject-area tests to receive their high school diploma. They are the first Wisconsin students who will need to pass such tests to graduate from high school.
“As all good teachers know, achievement and learning cannot be determined by a single measure.”_________ Katie Schultz Stout, WEAC Director of Instruction and Professional Development |
Notices of the high-stakes exam came from the Department of Public Instruction and State Superintendent John Benson, whose communications department has implemented a plan to notify students and their parents, administrators, school boards and special interest groups of the high school graduation testing.
It is the first of many notices they will receive as they progress through school to ensure that no student will be surprised when the tests are first given in the 2000-01 school year.
Legislation signed last summer by Gov. Thompson requires that 12th-graders pass an achievement test before getting their high school diplomas. They will have at least four chances to pass the four-part test that will first be administered to them in the spring of their sophomore years. The rules do not apply to home-schooled children, private school students, or students participating in the Milwaukee private and religious school voucher program. They are likely to apply to students in charter schools.
In social studies, students will be tested in geography, history, political science and citizenship, economics and behavioral science. During the math portion, students will be tested on mathematical processes, number operations and relationships, geometry, measurement, statistics and probability, and algebraic relationships.
Reading and literature, writing, language, media and technology, and research and inquiry will be tested in the English/language arts subject area. Science connections, nature of science, inquiry, physical science, earth and space, life and environment, applications and science in personal and social perspectives will be tested during the science portion.
The examinations will be administered twice per year. Each test will be about three hours in length. Most likely, students will take only one test per day, meaning that testing will take place over a period of four days during the regular school schedule, said Russ Allen, research and professional development consultant for WEAC.
The DPI is currently writing item specifications and sample items to indicate what students will need to know and be able to do to pass the tests.
“They will tell you with a high level of specificity the types of questions that are likely to be asked on the test,” Allen said. “I think that’s going to be helpful to students, parents and teachers. Right now, they are struggling with what’s going to be asked. ... If this is going to be fair, you have to give them more direction.”
The downside is the whole process places tight restrictions on what teachers spend their time teaching and what students learn.
It can lessen creativity and freedom of expression in the classroom, critics say. Instead of teaching material they believe is most relevant and important, teachers find they are forced to “teach to the test.” At the same time, it reduces choices for students, who must increasingly spend their time focusing on “the test” rather than pursuing individual interests and developing their personal strengths.
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J. Jason Holder, a student at West Bend East High School, is so concerned about the impact of the high school graduation test that he wrote the governor a letter (see sidebar).
“Should a student’s educational competency be based on one simple test? I think not,” he wrote.
Tracey Conners, Jason’s social studies teacher at West Bend East High School, said she’s also concerned about the impact of the test.
Conners said her school’s social studies department has completed a four-year process of aligning its curriculum, first to national and then to state standards.
While she believes the curriculum is in tune with what may be tested, she’s still concerned that many students won’t be prepared for the test.
The emergence of high-stakes testing in Wisconsin is not limited to high school students. Under related legislation, students will also be required to pass state proficiency tests in 4th and 8th grades before moving to the next grade level.
As the law now stands, beginning in 2002-03, a school board will not be allowed to promote 4th- and 8th-grade students unless they pass the statewide exam or one developed or approved by their local school board. A student must be given at least two opportunities to take the exam, and the student must be excused from the exam if the student’s parent or guardian so requests. The school board must develop alternative criteria for promoting a student who does not take the test.
A bill presented before the Assembly Education Committee in February would allow schools to take factors besides testing into consideration when deciding whether students may go on to the 5th and 9th grades. The bill directs each school board to adopt a written policy specifying the criteria for promotion. Under the bill, the student’s academic performance, recommendations of teachers and any other criteria must also be considered.
Katie Schultz Stout, director of WEAC’s Instruction and Professional Development Division, testified in support of the bill.
“It is very important that all Wisconsinites understand that a significant body of research shows that retention at grade level has a negative effect on school achievement and completion,” she said. “There is little debate on that fact. On the other hand, there is also evidence that placing punitive high stakes on testing can distort an educational system in ways that have very high long term costs.”
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Sen. Richard Grobschmidt, a South Milwaukee Democrat, heads the Senate Education Committee, which also held hearings last month. Testimo-ny supported the inclusion of a child’s grades and teacher recommendations – as well as testing – to determine whether a child should be promoted to 5th or 9th grade.
“The proposals have merit,” Grobschmidt said. “Testing is valuable to reinforce what teachers should already know about a student.” However, he added, testing should not be the only determining factor for promoting a student.
Grobschmidt is concerned the current legislation offers no provision for remedial education for children who fail the tests. Revenue controls make it very difficult or impossible for districts to develop remedial programs, he said.
Grobschmidt also said a push by Thompson to eliminate the option for parents to excuse their children from the testing is not favored by his committee.
Grobschmidt said his committee members will evaluate the testimony in coming weeks and believes additional legislation will be presented to modify the current testing laws.
Posted April 5, 1999
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