Hi,

in view of the bit of discussion on testing, thought I would pass this 
along, sent to me by a colleague in our coll. of ed.:

   4.  The Inevitable Corruption of Indicators and Educators Through High-
Stakes Testing [pdf]
http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/documents/EPSL-0503-101-EPRU.pdf

The purpose of testing students has long been debated among educational
policy and educational psychology experts, and there has been a litany of
research disseminated on the subject. This latest paper from the Education
Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University (authored by Sharon L.
Nichols and David C. Berliner) explores the problematic nature of high-
stakes testing in detail throughout its 187-pages. Sponsored by a grant from
the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice, the executive
summary of this well-written report begins with the assertion that "this
study finds that the over-reliance on high-stakes testing has serious
negative repercussions that are present at every level of the public school
system." The report itself contains a number of helpful chapters on its
methodology, the corruption of indicators, the incidences of student
cheating, and the misrepresentation of student data. Overall, this report is
one that is well worth reading in detail, particularly for educational
policy researchers and those directly involved in school administration and
governance. [KMG]



-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •      Home page: 
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/