Fwd: Texas Study: High-Stakes Testing Leads to Lower Graduation Rates

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Great ammunition. McNeil is One of Us.

Susan

Begin forwarded message:

  From: James Crawford <jwcrawford@COMPUSERVE.COM>

  Date: Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:54:58 PM US/Pacific

  To: ELLADVOC@ASU.EDU

  Subject: Texas Study: High-Stakes Testing Leads to Lower Graduation Rates

  Reply-To: James Crawford <jwcrawford@COMPUSERVE.COM>

  Study can be downloaded at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v16n3/

  Rice University News Office

  February 14, 2007

  As graduation rates go down, school ratings go up

  New study shows the negative implications of No Child Left Behind

  A new study by researchers at Rice University and the University of
  Texas-Austin finds that Texas' public school accountability system, the model
  for the national No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), directly contributes to
  lower graduation rates. Each year Texas public high schools lose at least
  135,000 youth prior to graduation -- a disproportionate number of whom are
  African-American, Latino and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students. 

  By analyzing data from more than 271,000 students, the study found that 60
  percent of African-American students, 75 percent of Latino students and 80
  percent of ESL students did not graduate within five years. The researchers
  found an overall graduation rate of only 33 percent. 

  "High-stakes, test-based accountability doesn't lead to school improvement or
  equitable educational possibilities," said Linda McSpadden McNeil, director
  of the Center for Education at Rice University. "It leads to avoidable losses
  of students. Inherently the system creates a dilemma for principals: comply
  or educate. Unfortunately, we found that compliance means losing students."

  The study shows as schools came under the accountability system, which uses
  student test scores to rate schools and reward or discipline principals,
  massive numbers of students left the school system. The exit of low-achieving
  students created the appearance of rising test scores and of a narrowing of
  the achievement gap between white and minority students, thus increasing the
  schools' ratings.

  This study has serious implications for the nation's schools under the NCLB
  law. It finds that the higher the stakes and the longer such an
  accountability system governs schools, the more school personnel view
  students not as children to educate but as potential liabilities or assets
  for their school's performance indicators, their own careers or their
  school's funding.

  The study shows a strong relationship between the increasing number of
  dropouts and school's rising accountability ratings, finding that:

  -  Losses of low-achieving students help raise school ratings under the
  accountability system.

  -  The accountability system allows principals to hold back students who are
  deemed at risk of reducing the school's scores; many students retained this
  way end up dropping out.

  -  The test scores grouped by race single out the low-achieving students in
  these subgroups as potential liabilities to the school ratings, increasing
  incentives for school administrators to allow those students to quietly exit
  the system.

  -  The accountability system's zero-tolerance rules for attendance and
  behavior, which put youth into the court system for minor offenses and
  absences, alienate students and increase the likelihood they will drop out.

  The discrepancy between the official dropout rates, in the 2 to 3 percent
  range, and the actual rates can be attributed to the state's method of
  counting, which does not include students who drop out of school for reasons
  such as pregnancy or incarceration or declare intent to take the GED sometime
  in the future.

  The study analyzes student-level data of 271,000 students in one of Texas'
  large urban districts over a seven-year period. It also includes analysis of
  the policy and its implementation, extensive observations in high schools in
  that district and interviews with students, teachers, administrators and
  students who left school without graduating.

  The study has been published in the peer-reviewed policy journal "Educational
  Policy Analysis Archives" and is the first research to track the impact of
  high-stakes accountability on students, employing individual student-level
  data over a multiyear period. The executive summary is available at Rice
  University's Center for Education, http://centerforeducation.rice.edu/0000,0000,0000.
  The study can be viewed at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v16n3/0000,0000,0000.

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