High Stakes Testing

Pencil drawing a checkmark in a box. U.S.A. ballot measures voting in elections.
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States 5 Ways You Didn't Know the Election Will Affect K-12 Schools
Voters will weigh ballot items that affect funding for electric school buses, tax revenue for state education budgets, and more.
Mark Lieberman, October 31, 2024
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8 min read
Reaching hands from The Creation of Adam of Michelangelo illustration representing the creation or origins of of high stakes testing.
Frances Coch/iStock + Education Week
Assessment Opinion Students Shouldn't Have to Pass a State Test to Graduate High School
There are better ways than high-stakes tests to think about whether students are prepared for their next step, writes a former high school teacher.
Alex Green, October 30, 2024
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4 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
Assessment Letter to the Editor State Exams Offer Pathways for Some—Not All—Learners
A parent writes a letter to the editor detailing her child's experience with state exams in New York.
April 25, 2023
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1 min read
This May 8, 1964 file photo shows Linda Brown Smith standing in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kan. The refusal of the public school to admit Brown in 1951, then nine years old, because she is black, led to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the "separate but equal" clause and mandated that schools nationwide must be desegregated.
This May 8, 1964 file photo shows Linda Brown Smith standing in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kan. The refusal of the public school to admit Brown in 1951, then nine years old, because she is black, led to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the "separate but equal" clause and mandated that schools nationwide must be desegregated.
AP Photo
Equity & Diversity Educational Inequality: 4 Moments in History That Explain Where We Are Today
A new Columbia University report highlights how inequality was embedded in the creation of public education in the United States.
Ileana Najarro, March 20, 2023
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5 min read
Photo of high school students taking exam.
iStock/Getty
Assessment States Have Soured on the High School Exit Exam. Here's Why
The pandemic is one reason, but interest has waned for some time in light of mixed research.
Sarah Schwartz, January 26, 2023
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3 min read
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Image shows a speech bubble divided into 4 overlapping, connecting parts.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty and Laura Baker/Education Week
Standards & Accountability Opinion What Should School Accountability Look Like in a Time of COVID-19?
Remote learning is not like in person, and after nine months of it, data are revealing how harmful COVID-19 has been to children's learning.
Peter DeWitt, January 10, 2021
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6 min read
Miguel Cardona, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of Education, speaks after being introduced at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 23, 2020.
Miguel Cardona, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of Education, speaks after being introduced at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 23, 2020.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Federal Where Biden's Choice for Education Secretary Stands on Key K-12 Issues
Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona, Biden's pick for education secretary, has taken positions on an array of K-12 issues.
Evie Blad, December 22, 2020
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8 min read
Illustration of students in virus environment facing wave of test sheets.
Collage by Vanessa Solis/Education Week (Images: iStock/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty)
Assessment Opinion Testing Students This Spring Would Be a Mistake
High-stakes tests would tell us very little we can't know in other ways, writes a longtime assessment researcher.
Lorrie A. Shepard, December 16, 2020
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5 min read
School Climate & Safety Briefly Stated Briefly Stated: Stories You May Have Missed
A collection of news stories you may have missed.
March 3, 2020
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7 min read
Recruitment & Retention What the Research Says Eliminating High-Stakes Testing May Not Lessen Most Teacher Turnover
For many teachers, high-stakes testing is a major source of frustration—but they're not necessarily quitting over it.
Madeline Will, February 25, 2020
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1 min read
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Assessment Opinion It's Time to End Timed Tests
The research is clear that speed doesn't reflect intelligence, writes Alden S. Blodget.
Alden S. Blodget, September 30, 2019
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5 min read
BRIC ARCHIVE
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School & District Management Opinion There Is Rampant Distrust in Education. Here's How to Fix That
Is it possible to replace a culture of long-simmering distrust? Only if education leaders make some serious changes, writes Katherine Schultz.
Katherine Schultz, June 19, 2019
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4 min read
Assessment Math Scores Slide to a 20-Year Low on ACT
The continuing decline in math achievement comes even as fewer students are taking the college-readiness exam.
Catherine Gewertz, October 17, 2018
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5 min read
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