High stakes testing is a step backwards for education. Tests that determine grade advancement, teacher pay, school funding and accreditation are becoming increasingly popular. Politicians and corporate leaders support these tests in an effort to "reform" public schools. Instead of reform, high stakes tests force schools and teachers to narrow curriculum to "teach to the test" rather than increasing real knowledge. The emphasis on test-oriented education is on memorization of facts. While there is nothing wrong with facts, no real knowledge exists if they can't be applied to real world problems.

A study done by Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA), a peer-reviewed scholarly journal from Arizona State University, indicates that high stakes tests not only have no benefit to student achievement, but also cause harm to school and student performance. The test was designed to determine whether or not high stakes tests increase transfer of learning, the goal of education. The basis of the study included

Bonstingl goes on to suggest that high stakes testing as it exist now is widely abused, and teachers, parents and principles should advocate for more realistic assessment. A technical report, by the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Students Testing (CRESST), shows that instruction is also altered because of high stakes testing. Based on an eighteen-month observational study, the report states that instruction in schools that have high stakes testing now focuses on coaching students to pass the tests. Assignments that develope critical thinking and applicable knowledge are now replaced with "word recognition, recognition of errors in spelling, language usage, punctuation and arithmetic operations." The report also says that teachers have replaced reading "real books", with "artificially short texts" that resemble the types of passages used in standardized tests. Even though the intention of high stakes tests is to raise academic standards, the testing has negative effects on learning. Because the consequence of the testing is detrimentally

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