THEORY INTO PRACTICE / Winter 2003 The Impact of High-Stakes Testing

This article discusses teachers ’ views on state-man-dated testing programs. An overview of the literature is presented, as well as results from a nationwide survey of teachers. Findings from both suggest that high-stakes state-mandated testing programs can lead to instruction that contradicts teachers ’ views of sound educational practice. In particular, teachers frequent-ly report that the pressure to raise test scores en-courages them to emphasize instructional and assessment strategies that mirror the content and for-mat of the state test, and to devote large amounts of classroom time to test preparation activities. The ar-ticle concludes that serious reconsideration must be given to the use of high-stakes consequences in cur-rent statewide testing programs. A GROWING BODY OF EVIDENCE suggests that high-stakes testing can be a driving force behind fundamental change within schools (Koretz