High Stakes Tests Do Not Improve Student Learning

A FairTest Report

by

Monty Neill, Acting Executive Director

January 1998

See related NAEP reading and math scores

1) Hold a public forum in your community to discuss NCLB.

2) Persuade your organizations to pass resolutions calling for reform of NCLB. (Such resolutions are often issued by unions, religious groups, professional associations, and parents groups.) Ask them to:

After six years, there is overwhelming evidence that the deeply flawed “No Child Left Behind” law (NCLB) is doing more harm than good in our nation’s public schools. NCLB’s test-and-punish approach to school reform relies on limited, one-size-fits-all tools that reduce education to little more than test prep. It produces unfair decisions and requires unproven, often irrational "solutions" to complex problems. NCLB is clearly underfunded, but fully funding a bad law is not a solution.

"How to Improve High-Stakes
Test Scores Without Really Improving"

by Richard L. Allington, Ph.D., University of Florida,
in Issues in Education: Contributions from Educational Psychology.
Adapted by CalCARE and FairTest.

What is the "No Child Left Behind" Law?

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a federal law that provides money for extra educational assistance for poor children in return for improvements in their academic progress. NCLB is the most recent version of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

States set educational proficiency level

Under the U. S. constitution, states have the primary responsibility for public education. However, if states want to receive federal NCLB funds, they must agree to the law's requirements to:

Why “No Child Left Behind”

Will Fail Our Children

A FairTest Position Statement on
NCLB

 

“No Child Left Behind,” the name of the federal
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, describes a worthy goal
for our nation. Tragically, the legislation will exacerbate,
not solve, the real problems that cause many children to be left
behind.

"High-stakes" tests are exams used to make important decisions about students, such as graduation or grade promotion. Decades of research shows the key reasons why test scores should never be the determining factor in making major decisions about students:

Are standardized tests fair and helpful evaluation tools?