High Stakes Testing and Student Achievement.
The effects of high stakes testing may be critical in the lives of public school students and may have many consequences for schools and teachers. There are no easy answers in measuring student achievement and in holding teachers accountable for learner progress. High stakes testing also involves responsibilities on the part of the principal who must involve teachers in quality in-service education programs to offer the best in student education. Parents too have a vital part to play in the current high stakes testing movement, and they should learn what the test means and how to prepare their child. Motivation in test taking is a real problem. Student anxiety is one of the factors that must be considered. When the stakes are low, more energy might be available for test taking. Much research and development will be needed to resolve questions about high stakes tests.
High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Updated Analyses with NAEP Data.
The present research is a follow-up study of earlier published analyses that looked at the relationship between high-stakes testing pressure and student achievement in 25 states. Using the previously derived Accountability Pressure Index (APR) as a measure of state-level policy pressure for performance on standardized tests, a series of correlation analyses was conducted to explore relationships between high-stakes testing accountability pressure and student achievement as measured by the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) in reading and math. Consistent with earlier work, stronger positive correlations between the pressure index and NAEP performance in fourth grade math and weaker connections between pressure and fourth and eighth grade reading performance were found. Policy implications and future directions for research are discussed.
Initial Teacher Training: the French view
ABSTRACT This paper, against the background of trends in the development of initial teacher training in Europe as a whole, identifies and explains some of the recent, radical reforms which were introduced in France by a socialist government. These include the need to raise the status and the competence of the teaching profession; the creation of new teacher‐training institutions of university status (Instituts universitaires de formation des maitres); the introduction of common entry qualifications at degree level for both primary and secondary levels; the harmonisation and the extension to 2 years of the post‐degree teacher‐training course and the increase in emphasis placed on professional training, both theoretical and practical. These reforms provoked a storm of protest and an examination of the reasons for this reveals a multiplicity of crucial questions which have far‐reaching implications.