The High Stakes of Testing

Exploring Student Experience with Standardized Assessment Through Governmentality
Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-90-04-38723-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 19, 134 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 386 g

Reihe: Constructing Knowledge: Curriculum Studies in Action

Standardized assessments have long been part of the educative experience for students around the world. The high-stakes nature of these tests can have damaging and enduring effects for public school systems, particularly the youth. With the adoption of Common Core State Standards and mandated state-wide accountability measures, high-stakes tests, like the PARCC, gained quick and controversial notoriety.

The high-stakes discourse has been dominated by politicians, educators, and parents. Notably absent from this dialogue are the voices of those whom are impacted the most: students. Largely influenced by Critical Pedagogy, this research sheds light on the negative, punitive, and often arbitrary nature of testing in schools. The paramount intention of this publication is to raise awareness of student experiences and perspectives of standardized testing.

The High Stakes of Testing analyzes the experiences, relationships, thoughts, ideas, and opinions students have with standardized assessment measures. Interviews with seven students in Grades 3, 5, and 8 are examined through a governmentality lens to reveal the ways in which the youth are manipulated, regulated, and disciplined to view standardized testing as a natural part of what it means to be a public-school student. It is only when we can begin to see and appreciate how our youth interact with the omnipresent testing in our public schools can we begin to envision changing these accountability practices.

Autoren/Hrsg.

L Kelly, Amy

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Pädagogik Bildungssystem Prüfungen und Beurteilungen
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Pädagogik Bildungssystem Bildungspolitik, Bildungsreform

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction: Who Cares What the Kids Think?

National Turn toward Testing

Critical Pedagogy

2 Understanding High-Stakes Standardized Exams in the US

The History

Pearson

Consequences

3 What Is Student Voice?

Context

In Research

In Practice

4 How Foucault’s Governmentality Can Help

The Theory

n Research

For Student Voice and Testing

5 The Study

Methods

Means

6 What the Kids Have to Say

By Grade Level

Their Big Ideas

7 Interpreting Student Voice: Themes

8 What Does All This Mean?

Conclusions

9 Possibilities: Where Do We Go from Here?

References

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Amy L. Kelly, Ed.D. (2017), Lewis University, is a half-time Assistant Professor at North Central College. She was a public school elementary educator for thirteen years. Her most recent publication is "Standardization, Assessment, and Globalization" in Thresholds in Education (2017).