High-Stakes Testing: The Student Voice

There has been an intense debate about standardized testing since they were first introduced into public schools in the nineteenth century. In this research, it is important to know why standardized tests were created and how they have been debated. Roy C. Owens said. \u22We cannot know where we\u27re going if we don\u27t know where we\u27ve come from.\u22 Past information is important in this research because it will show how far we have progressed since the start of the standardized testing movement. What started out as standardized testing later changed into high-stakes testing. The high-stakes were created by tying student test scores to promotions within Chicago Public Schools (CPS). If a student did not meet a predetermined test score, they could attend summer school to obtain the successful score. If the student did not meet the score during summer school, the student would be required to repeat the grade level. Through the debates of high-stakes testing, the students\u27 perspective was repeatedly over looked. The goal of this research is to determine how students feel about high-stakes testing and if they feel that the tests have changed their feelings toward their school, themselves, or the learning experience. This research is important because it will help U.S. policy makers see if standardized tests are an accurate portrayal of student performance