High-Stakes Testing

High-Stakes Testing

Tests such as standardized tests and high school exit examinations with sole determining factors in decision-making are known as high-stakes testing. Covered in this paper will be the overview of testing in New Mexico, three issues with high-stakes testing and how I would deal with the issues in my classroom.

High-Stakes Testing

The state of New Mexico uses U-Tips for academic standard testing. Testing includes language art of second through eleventh grade, mathematics second grade through high school, and science grades fourth through high school. The tests are Criterion-references Tests (CRTs) and are carefully aligned with the New Mexico State Core and currently being rewritten for the incoming Common Core. Additional test administered in New Mexico are Direct Writing Assessment (DWA) a writing test for grades six and nine. New Mexico Basic Skills Competency Test used as the graduation exam covering math, reading comprehension. Writing for grades ten through twelve and for students with significant cognitive disabilities on IEP there is the New Mexico Alternate Assessment (NMAA) available in language arts and math for first through twelfth grade and science fourth through twelfth grade. Norm-referenced tests are administered to third, fifth, and eighth graders across New Mexico each year for a national comparison by way of the Iowa Tests.

Issues

My first issue with high-stakes testing is special needs students. According to, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), students are expected to be proficient in math, literacy, and language arts (at least 95%) by 2014. When the bill was created only 1% of students would be allowed to take an alternative test. That was later increased to 3%, but that still leaves approximately 75% of special needs to students to take the same test as their peers (Webster, n.d.). These tests upset and cause stress to students who find it harder than their peers to perform in school daily but to be accountable to testing the same can be unnerving. In my classroom I would work closely with my special education liaison giving extra attention, worksheets, and support to students to become more comfortable with the test materials. I would also encourage my students to relax, find ways to deal with text anxiety, and reward all intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

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