High Stakes Testing Essay

The authors use existing international and Australian literature on student’s experience of high stakes testing to support their research to answer the question ‘is high-stakes testing in the best interest of students?’ The reoccurring theme throughout the review is the negative impact that high-stakes testing has on the health and wellbeing of students. The review draws attention to existing research that suggests high-stakes testing lowers the self esteem, self image and long term confidence of students, causing stress and anxiety. The first author, John Polese, is a Professor of Education in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. Polese played a leading role in conducting over forty major educational research

(2012;2011;). The impact of high stakes testing: The australian story. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 19(1), 65-79. doi:10.1080/0969594X.2011.592972

Val Klenowski is a Professor of Education at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Claire Wyatt-Smith is Dean (Academic) in the Arts, Education and Law Group at Griffith University. The authors promote the same ideas as the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) have on high stakes testing programs, such as NAPLAN, suggesting that they have unintended and negative impacts on teaching and learning quality. The article includes research which admits that the increased pressure on teachers to ensure improved test results has led to cheating and narrowing of the curriculum because teachers only teach that which will be tested. The article also reveals other consequences of high-stakes testing, such as; threats to teachers’ jobs if results don’t improve, more attention given to students who are more likely to achieve better grades, neglect of students who have the greatest need for support and increased absence of low performing students on test days. The article reinforces the negative impacts of high stakes testing as the sources above, thus illuminating my topic of the impact of high-stakes