EAST LANSING, Mich., Sept. 20 (UPI) -- A study funded by a Michigan educational think tank says the high-stakes testing mandated by the Bush administration may be counter-productive.
"High Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Problems for the No Child Left Behind Act" was released Tuesday by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.
The authors examined data from 25 states. David Berliner, Arizona State University, and Sharon Nichols, University of Texas, San Antonio, also developed a measurement of the pressure put on teachers, students and parents by the testing system in a given state in order to make state-by-state comparisons.
Berliner and Nicholas say that the states with higher percentages of minority students are more likely to adopt high-stakes testing. They also found that high-stakes testing tends to reduce students' chances of moving from the eighth grade to the 12th grade, presumably because more students are kept behind and drop out.
The authors also found no correlation between high-stakes testing and increased scores on the National Association of Educational Progress.
