Heightened Test Anxiety Among Young Children: Elementary School Students’ Anxious Responses to High‐stakes Testing

Abstract

This study explored differences in test anxiety on high-stakes standardized achievement testing and low-stakes testing among elementary school children. This is the first study to directly examine differences in young students' reported test anxiety between No Child Left Behind (NCLB) achievement testing and classroom testing. Three hundred thirty-five students in Grades 3 through 5 participated in the study. Students completed assessments of test anxiety following NCLB testing and typical classroom testing. Students reported significantly more overall test anxiety in relation to high-stakes testing versus classroom testing on two measures of test anxiety, effect sizes r = −.21 and r = −.10. Students also reported significantly more cognitive (r = −.20) and physiological (r = −.24) symptoms of test anxiety in relation to high-stakes testing. This study adds to the test anxiety literature by demonstrating that students experience heightened anxiety in response to NCLB testing. C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.A half-century ago, Seymour Sarason wrote that "we live in a test-conscious, test-giving culture in which the lives of people are in part determined by their test performance" (1959, p. 26). Since that time, the educational accountability movement in the United States has greatly increased the importance that testing has on the educational and occupational outcomes of children. Most recently, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB; U.S. Congress, 2002) dramatically increased the prevalence and stakes of standardized testing for public school children in elementary, middle, and high school by requiring annual testing of statewide academic achievement assessments in the areas of reading and mathematics during Grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. NCLB test scores are publicly reported and linked to rewards and sanctions, such as school funding, administration, and employment decisions, making this testing high-stakes in nature for educators and communities. However, little research has been conducted that examines how individual students perceive these annual high-stakes tests and whether or not students experience heightened anxiety/distress in relation to them.Test anxiety comprises psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions that occur in association with concern about the negative outcomes resulting from failure or poor performance in evaluative situations (Zeidner, 1998). Lowe and colleagues (2008) have proposed a biopsychosocial model of test anxiety that highlights three different processes involved in the expression of test anxiety, including the individual's behavior, cognition, and physiology. Behaviors include both taskrelevant (e.g., focusing attention on task) and task-irrelevant behavior (e.g., skimming through items). Physiological reactions include emotional arousal (e.g., increased heart rate or muscle tightness).

Test Anxiety: Do Gender and School-Level Matter?

“…Collectively, the literature on developmental changes in test anxiety suggests that test anxiety interferes with learning and functioning in school (Peleg et al, 2016), beginning when students are first introduced into the education system in primary school and typically rising in later years of high school and university (Spielberger & Vagg, 1995;Trifoni & Shahini 2011), when classroom examinations and high-stakes tests become a pertinent part of student records and strongly impact their educational and professional future (Segool, Carlson, Goforth, von der Embse, & Barterian, 2013). Previous studies focusing on gender differences, indeed, revealed that females typically have higher levels of test anxiety, mostly in the emotionality component (for a review, see Zeidner, 1998).…”

Test anxiety in school-age children: An examination of a national epidemic

“…Although psychologists acknowledge that test anxiety among school-age children is a prominent issue, estimates of exactly how many students are affected may vary. Most estimates fall in the range of 10%-40% of elementary and middle school students (Segool, Carlson, Goforth, von der Embse & Barterian, 2013;Von der Embse & Hasson, 2012). Some research indicates that these numbers may be higher among minorities (Tempel & Neumann, 2014;Turner, Beidel, Hughes & Turner, 1993).…”

“…A majority of past research has been conducted with college students. Given the rise in the amount of standardised testing required for kindergarten-12th grade students, researchers are beginning to focus more on younger students' test anxiety (Larson, El Ramahi, Conn, Estes & Ghibellini, 2010;Segool et al, 2013;Weems et al, 2015;Yeo, Goh & Liem, 2016).…”

“…This cyclical pattern of failure further reinforces test anxiety. If effective interventions are not implemented to stop repeated failures in early elementary grades, the increasing pressure of high-stakes testing will result in heightened test anxiety in struggling students (Segool, Carlson, Goforth, Von Der Embse & Barterian, 2013).…”

Implementing Test Enhanced Learning: Swedish Teacher Students’ Perception of Quizzing

“…Elevated levels of test anxiety are also linked to procrastination and loss of motivation to engage in academic work (Mavilidi, Hoogerheide, & Paas, 2014). Although levels of test anxiety depend on the social and educational functions of both the schools and tests involved (Song, Bong, Lee, & Kim, 2015;Varela & Hensley-Maloney, 2009), for example whether the tests are low-or high-stakes (Segool, Carlson, Goforth, von der Embse, & Barterian, 2013), it typically weakenes educational performance, and burdens individuals regardless of the cultural setting when levels are excessive (Liew et al, 2014;Nelson et al, 2014). Nonetheless, in Sweden test anxiety has drawn little attention from the educational field (see Nyroos et al, 2015).…”