Raising Standards or Raising Barriers?
Inequality and High-Stakes Testing in Public Education

Edited by Gary Orfield and Mindy L. Kornhaber Century Foundation Press, Copyright © 2001 ISBN 0-87078-452-8 $12.95 paperback, 250 pp.

To Order, please contact the Century Foundation Press at (800) 552-5450.

About the Book

Published by the Century Foundation Press as part of a series called Civil Rights in a New Era, this book makes clear the importance of high standards and accountability systems. But support for standards and accountability systems should not be equated with support for high-stakes tests. These are tests that are used to determine whether a student graduates, gains access to challenging curriculum, or is promoted, or whether schools or educators are rewarded or penalized. Most of the contributors to the volume have found evidence that policies that focus on high-stakes testing corrupt educational reform and undermine achievement, especially for at-risk students. State and federal policymakers are increasingly pushing such tests as a panacea for the nation’s educational concerns.

--From Press Release, June 20, 2001

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

High-Stakes Testing Policies: Examining Their Assumptions and Consequences
Mindy L. Kornhaber and Gary Orfield

The Development and Impact of High-Stakes Testing
Gary Natriello and Aaron M. Pallas

High-Stakes Testing and Economic Productivity
Henry M. Levin

The Impacts of Minimum Competency Exam Graduation Requirements on College Attendance and Early Labor
John H. Bishop and Ferran Mane

The Adverse Impact of High-Stakes Testing on Minority Students: Evidence from One Hundred Years of Test Data
George Madaus and Marguerite Clarke

Do High-Stakes Graduation Tests Improve Learning Outcomes? Using State-level NAEP Data to Evaluate the Effects of Mandatory Graduation Tests
Monty Neill, with Keith Gayler

The Harmful Impact of the TAAS System of Testing in Texas: Beneath the Accountability Rhetoric
Linda McNeil and Angela Valenzuela

Should We End Social Promotion? Truth and Consequences
Robert M. Hauser

High-Stakes Testing and Civil Rights: Standards of Appropriate Test Use and a Strategy for Enforcing Them
Jay P. Heubert