DALLAS, May 12 (UPI) -- Under current education policy, schools that don't meet standardized testing benchmarks become subject to penal reform policies. As a result, testing takes center stage, and school's scholastic focus becomes improving test scores.
A new study in Texas suggests this turn of events comes with a cost -- diminished college preparedness.
At a predominantly minority-enrolled Texas high school, educators were attempting to establish a college-going culture, encouraging enrollment in AP courses and offering college advisement programs. But educators ultimately felt their efforts were undermined by the school's failing status.
After the high school received its failing status from the state education agency, teachers were pressured to improve scores within a year. Curricula were geared towards the basic skills of the test, and students were pushed into intervention programs focused on test taking. As a result, enrollment in AP classes declined.
Anjale D. Welton, a professor of educational policy at the University of Illinois, explored how these performance mandates affected the school's culture. During interviews, Welton and her colleagues found that the students felt "stigmatized" and "humiliated" by their school's failing status.
Welton says her research suggests the school's declining academic reputation also resulted in higher teacher turnover, denying students the consistent social support they need to become first-generation college students.
"This school was so focused on meeting the demands of state policy that it was unaware of the toll it was taking on the culture and climate of the school," Welton argued in a recent press release. "The goal of standards and assessment is to make students more prepared for the rigors of college, but are schools implementing these measures in a way that emphasizes college readiness?"
"Are they sending the message that students should go to college, and assisting them in applying and finding financial aid and scholarships?" she asked. "We should be able to do both -- hold schools accountable and create a college-going culture."
Welton says her study is proof that education reformers need to rethink how they apply stigmatizing penalties to struggling schools, especially those with high poverty and minority student populations.
"Rather than centering performance problems on students and teachers, policymakers should take into consideration the systemic inequities and larger sociopolitical contexts in which schools operate," Williams said. "We also need to be more aware of the impact of labeling schools 'high minority, high poverty' and 'low performing,' because these descriptors convey deficit connotations."
The study was published in The High School Journal.
