As conversations increasingly center on the relationship between student test scores and school rankings, NCLB status, merit pay, graduation requirements as well as state and federal money...it is somewhat natural to assume these "high stakes" measurements will become more and more prone to fabrication and/or artificial means of gains in scores. As an indication of this issue, New York City school officials said recently that they would introduce a new, rigorous system of auditing the test scores, grading practices and graduation rates of the public high schools, appearing to acknowledge rising concerns that some schools might be manipulating the statistics they are judged by.
The move comes as the city and the state have sought to raise standards to better prepare students for college and careers, and as mounting evidence has cast doubt on whether even the current standards are being met.
To read the full article entitled, "City to Toughen Auditing of School Test Scores" by NY Times reporter Sharon Otterman please click HERE.
For the best discussion that I know of the subject, I would suggest reading a book by Dr. Sharon Nicholas and Dr. David Berliner entitled "Collateral Damage How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America's Schools". The book points out that for more than a decade, the debate over high-stakes testing has dominated the field of education. This passionate and provocative book provides a fresh perspective on the issue and powerful ammunition for opponents of high-stakes tests.
Picture: Hoboken High School Cheerleaders....circa early 1980's (archive photograph)
