High-Stakes Tests

Standardized achievement tests carry high stakes if serious consequences are attached to student[Page 436] performance on them. High-stakes tests are typically given in the three core academic subjects, reading, writing, and mathematics, and serious consequences are attached to individual student performance or student performance averaged at the classroom (teacher), school, or school district level.

For individual students, high test scores bring college scholarships and other forms of recognition, including academic awards and marks of distinguished achievement on high school diplomas. Low test scores bring retention in grade at the elementary level or denial of a high school diploma at the secondary level. If a third-grade student does not pass a third-grade test assessing reading acuity, the student could be retained in (i.e., expected to repeat) third grade. These tests are known as grade-to-grade promotion exams. If a high school student does not pass a high school test assessing mathematics acuity, a high school diploma could be denied until the student passes the math test. These tests are known as high school graduation or exit exams and, to date, are the most frequently used form of high-stakes tests in the country.

Students' high test scores bring teachers financial bonuses, salary increases, and more professional freedoms (e.g., choices in classes taught or scheduling preferences). Low test scores may cause a teacher to be fired or transferred to a different school and may be assumed to indicate that the teacher needs to undergo professional development to become better equipped to improve student performance.

High test scores merit monetary awards for local administrators, schools, and school districts. They also draw public acclaim for schools, districts, and school administrators when scores are published in local newspapers. Conversely, low test scores bring public scrutiny. They may be used as an indication that a school administrator should be terminated or that a school or school district should be reconstituted; taken over by a state, private, or charter school entity; no longer accredited; or simply closed. If students attend schools with a history of low test scores, the students may choose to transfer to schools with higher test scores.