Do High-Stakes Assessments Improve Learning Essay

Do High-Stakes Assessments Improve Learning - Essay Example 5), of which high-stakes assessment was deemed crucial in improving student achievement and learning. However, various studies have revealed contradictory results regarding its effect on students’ academic performance. Do High-Stakes Assessments Improve Learning? One, therefore, contends that high-stakes assessment does not improve the overall achievement and learning of students. Proponents of high-stakes assessment argue that â€Å"when faced with large incentives and threatening punishments, administrators, teachers, and students, it is believed, will take schooling more seriously and work harder to obtain rewards and avoid humiliating punishments† (Nichols, Glass, & Berliner, 2005, p. 1). ... ssessments implemented in various educational institutions throughout the United States have apparently generated contradictory results (Nichols, Glass, & Berliner, 2005; Amrein & Berliner, 2002). The study conducted by Nichols, Glass, & Berliner (2005) revealed that â€Å"there is no convincing evidence that the pressure associated with high-stakes testing leads to any important benefits for students’ achievement† (p. iii). This finding was corroborated in the study made by Amrein & Berliner (2002) which disclosed that â€Å"there is inadequate evidence to support the proposition that high-stakes tests and high school graduation exams increase student achievement. The data presented in this study suggest that after the implementation of high-stakes tests, nothing much happens† (p. 57). A closer evaluation of the reasons why high stakes assessment do not seem to apparently improve learning since high-stakes assessment were reported to be closely linked to ‘ pressure’ that contributes to an apparent temporary or superficial increase in academic achievement ratings. As emphasized by Supovitz (2010), â€Å"high-stakes testing does motivate educators, but responses are often superficial. In the best cases, high-stakes testing has focused instruction toward important and developmentally appropriate literacy and numeracy skills—but at the expense of a narrower curricular experience for students and a steadier diet of test preparation activities in classrooms, particularly in low-performing schools, which are the targets of test-based accountability† (par. 10). This fact was supported by Nichols, Glass, & Berliner (2005) who indicated that â€Å"high-stakes testing pressure might produce effects only at the simplest level of the school curriculum: primary school arithmetic,