High-Stakes Testing and Curricular Control: A Qualitative Metasynthesis

Abstract

Using the method of qualitative metasynthesis, this study analyzes 49 qualitative studies to interrogate how high-stakes testing affects curriculum, defined here as embodying content, knowledge form, and pedagogy. The findings from this study complicate the understanding of the relationship between high-stakes testing and classroom practice by identifying contradictory trends. The primary effect of high-stakes testing is that curricular content is narrowed to tested subjects, subject area knowledge is fragmented into test-related pieces, and teachers increase the use of teacher-centered pedagogies. However, this study also finds that, in a significant minority of cases, certain types of high-stakes tests have led to curricular content expansion, the integration of knowledge, and more student-centered, cooperative pedagogies. Thus the findings of the study suggest that the nature of high-stakes-test-induced curricular control is highly dependent on the structures of the tests themselves.

Critical Multicultural Citizenship Education among Black Immigrant Youth: Factors and Challenges

“…Promotion of citizenship education occurs when people interact among groups for participatory communal citizenship during festivals or funerals in which members have the opportunity to teach local history and culture, and engage in multiple forms of civic learning. Several researchers (Au, 2007;Gee, 2013;Hoechsmann & Poyntz, 2012) have therefore recommended that teachers emphasize the use of media and technology to engage students in authentic citizenship learning experiences with others, construct knowledge, and communicate effectively. In one study focused on prospective teachers' ability to foster critical multicultural citizenship (Castro, 2010), findings showed that teaching strategies such as de-emphasizing the test, incorporating multicultural and critical content, and teaching multiple perspectives helped promote critical citizenship education.…”

Common Core Standards and their Impact on Standardized Test Design: A New York Case Study

“…In his meta-synthesis of scholarship on this topic, Au (2007) found that standardized, high stakes tests fragmented the "structure of knowledge" and increased "teacher-centered pedagogy" (p. 263). For example, the high stakes associated with the tests have often made teachers feel pressured to teach to the middle at the "expense of the lowest performing students" (Kesler, 2013, p. 510).…”

Os reformadores empresariais da educação: da desmoralização do magistério à destruição do sistema público de educação

“…Uma consequência destas políticas é o estreitamento do currículo escolar (Au, 2007(Au, , 2009. Quando os testes incluem determinadas disciplinas e deixam outras de fora, os professores tendem a ensinar aquelas disciplinas abordadas nos testes (Madaus, Russell, & Higgins, 2009).…”