Last updated on: 2/28/2024 | Author: ProCon.org

Footnotes

The background and pro and con arguments were written by ProCon.org staff based upon input from the following sources.

1.National Center for Education Statistics, “Highlights from the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA),” nced.ed.gov, 2002
2.National Center for Education Statistics, “Mathematics Literacy: Average Scores,” nces.ed.gov (accessed Oct. 23, 2018)
3.National Center for Education Statistics, “Science Literacy: Average Scores,” nces.ed.gov (accessed Oct. 23, 2018)
4.National Center for Education Statistics, “Reading Literacy: Average Scores,” nces.ed.gov (accessed Oct. 23, 2018)
5.W. James Popham, “Standardized Testing Fails the Exam,” edutopia.org, Mar. 23, 2005
6.Ruth Mitchell, “A Guide to Standardized Testing: The Nature of Assessment,” centerforpubliceducation.org, Feb. 15, 2006
7.Scott Jaschik, “Can You Trust Automated Grading?,” insidehighered.com, Feb. 21, 2011
8.Meredith Kolodner, “Students, Teachers Sweating High-Stakes Tests as Parents Rebel against Constant Prep,” Daily News, May 3, 2011
9.Amanda Morin, “What Is High Stakes Testing?,” about.com (accessed June 20, 2011)
10.FairTest, “Florida Teachers Refuse Bonuses for High Test Scores,” fairtest.org, Jan. 2000
11.Richard Phelps, “Estimating the Costs and Benefits of Educational Testing Programs,” education-consumers.com, Feb. 2002
12.Dean Goodman and Ronald K. Hambleton, “Some Misconceptions About Large-Scale ducational Assessments,” Defending Standardized Testing, Ed. Richard P. Phelps, 2005
13.“Pearson,” ncspearson.com (accessed June 20, 2011)
14.Todd Farley, “Standardized Testing: A Decade in Review,” huffingtonpost.com, Apr. 8, 2011
15.Jay Mathews, “Just Whose Idea Was All This Testing?” Washington Post, Nov. 14, 2006
16.Justin Crozier, “A Unique Experiment,” China in Focus, 2002
17.Walter M. Haney, “Evidence on Education under NCLB (and How Florida Boosted NAEP Scores and Reduced the Race Gap),” bc.edu, Sept. 2006
18.Richard P. Phelps, Standardized Testing Primer, Oct. 2007
19.Sharon L. Nichols and David C. Berliner, Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America’s Schools, 2007
20.Barry J. Zimmerman and Dale H. Schunk, Educational Psychology: A Century of Contributions, 2002
21.“IBM 805 Test Scoring Machine,” ibm.com (accessed June 20, 2011)
22.Lawrence M. Fisher, “Reynold Johnson, 92, Pioneer in Computer Hard Disk Drives,” New York Times, Sep. 18, 1998
23.“Question 1529: Why Do Scantron-Type Tests Only Read #2 Pencils? Can Other Pencils Work?,” howeverythingworks.org (accessed June 20, 2011)
24.“Automated Test Scoring,” ibm.com (accessed June 20, 2011)
25.“ESEA Backgrounder 1: Accountability Systems,” edequality.org, Mar. 3, 2010
26.Peter Sacks, Standardized Minds: The High Price of America’s Testing Culture and What We Can Do to Change It, 2001
27.National Commission on Excellence in Education, “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform,” datacenter.spps.org, Apr. 1983
28.Mary Lyn Bourque, “Leave No Standardized Test Behind,” Defending Standardized Testing, Ed. Richard P. Phelps, 2005
29.Kevin Kosar, “Higher Standards: We’d Love to But…,” eric.ed.gov, Aug. 2003
30.“Public Law 107–110, 107th Congress,” ed.gov, Jan. 8, 2002
31.Patte Barth, “A Guide to the No Child Left Behind Act,” centerforpubliceducation.org, Mar. 23, 2006
32.“No Child Left Behind Act,” nytimes.com, June 13, 2011
33.Frederick M. Hess, “Fixing No Child Left Behind: Two Views,” USA Today, June 6, 2007
34.Gerald Bracey, “One Reason (among Many) That No Child Left Behind Cannot Work,” huffingtonpost.com, Jan. 2, 2007
35.Pauline Vu, “Do State Tests Make the Grade?,” stateline.org, Jan 17, 2008
36.Jason L. Riley, “Was the $5 Billion Worth It?,” Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2011
37.Sam Dillon, “Obama Calls for Major Change in Education Law,” New York Times, Mar. 13, 2010
38.United States Department of Education, “A Blueprint for Reform: The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act," ed.gov, Mar. 2010
39.Erica Werner, “Obama Discusses Pitfalls of Standardized Tests at Town Hall,” huffingtonpost.com, Mar. 28, 2011
40.Jack Gillum and Marisol Bello, “When Standardized Test Scores Soared in D.C., Were the Gains Real?,” USA Today, Mar. 30, 2011
41.Bill Turque, “Teacher Pay Plan Detailed,” washingtonpost.com, Sep. 10, 2010
42.Bill Turque, “In Second Year, Rhee Is Facing Major Tests,” Washington Post, Aug. 21, 2008
43.Marisol Bello and Jack Gillum, “D.C. Officials to Review High Rates of Erasures on School Tests,” USA Today, Mar. 30, 2011
44.Michelle Rhee, “The Evidence Is Clear: Test Scores Must Accurately Reflect Students’ Learning,” huffingtonpost.com, Apr. 6, 2011
45.Greg Toppo, “Memo Warns of Rampant Cheating in D.C. Public Schools,” usatoday.com, Apr. 11, 2013
46.Emma Brown, “Michelle Rhee Responds to Federal Investigation of Alleged DCPS Cheating,” washingtonpost.com, Jan. 8, 2013
47.Emma Brown, “Teachers in 18 D.C. Classrooms Cheated on Tests Last Year, Probe Finds,” washingtonpost.com, Apr. 12, 2013
48.Valerie Strauss, “Unanswered Questions about Standardized Tests,” Washington Post, Apr. 26, 2011
49.“Value-Added Assessment,” cgp.upenn.edu (accessed June 21, 2011)
50.Roger Tilles, “NY Regent: Why We Shouldn’t Link Teacher Evaluation to Test Scores,'"Washington Post, May 17, 2011
51.“Duncan Says 82 Percent of America’s Schools Could ‘Fail’ Under NCLB This Year,” ed.gov, Mar. 9, 2011
52.“Most Elementary Schools in California Will Fail to Meet Proficiency Requirements by 2014, Study Shows,” sciencedaily.com, Sep. 28, 2008
53.Erina Richards, “Despite Common Core and More Testing, Reading an Math Scores Haven’t Budged in a Decade,” usatoday.com, Oct. 30, 2019
54.US Department of Education, “Helping Students Adversely Affected by School Closures, Secretary DeVos Announces Broad Flexibilities for States to Cancel Testing during National Emergency,” ed.gov, Mar. 20, 2020
55.Jordan Williams, "National Reading, Math Tests Postponed to2022 amid Coronavirus Surge," thehill.com, Nov. 26, 2020
56.Aaron Churchill, "Bless the Tests: Three Reasons for Standardized Testing," fordhaminstitute.org, Mar. 18, 2015
57.Stephen Noonoo, "Can a Test Ever Be Fair? How Today's Standardized Tests Get Made.," edsurge.com, Jan. 10, 2018
58.Bryan Nixon, "The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing," whitbyschool.org (accessd Dec. 1, 2020)
59.George W. Bush Presidential Center, "Education Reformers: You Need to Do More Than Take a Book Report to a Knife Fight," bushcenter.org, Sep. 23, 2020
60.George W. Bush Presidential Center, "High-Quality, Fair Tests Can Help Students with Disabilities," bushcenter.org, Sep. 23, 2020
61.George W. Bush Presidential Center, "We Don’t Need a 'Data Vacation' During the Pandemic," bushcenter.org, Sep. 15, 2020
62.Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, "Civil Rights Groups: 'We Oppose Anti-Testing Efforts,'" civilrights.org, May 5, 2015
63.Rand, "Measuring Teacher Effectiveness FAQ," rand.org (accessed Dec. 2, 2020)
64. Larry Ferlazzo, "Response: The Role of Student Test Scores in Teacher Evaluations," blogs.edweek.org, Aug. 11, 2018
65.Matthew Pietrafetta, "Standardized Tests Can Promote Rigor," insidehighered.com, Aug. 24, 2020
66.Elaine Riordan, "Do Standardized Tests Matter? Preparing Students for High-Stakes Tests, Higher Education, and Careers," activelylearn.com, Apr. 30, 2019
67.Dan Goldhaber and Umut Özek, "How Much Should We Rely on Student Test Achievement as A Measure of Success?," caldercouncil.org, 2018
68.Carly Berwick, "What Does the Research Say About Testing?," edutopia.org, Oct. 25, 2019
69.Derrick Meador, "Examining the Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing," thoughtco.com, June 21, 2019
70.Teaching Tolerance, "How Stereotypes Undermine Test Scores," tolerance.org (accessed Dec. 2, 2020)
71.Steve Martinez and Rick Miller, "Measuring Growth in Test Scores Is Key to Understanding Student Progress," edsource.org, Nov. 26, 2018
72.Theresa Anderson, et al., "Robust and Equitable Measures to Identify Quality Schools," urban.org, Apr. 2019
73.Brandon Busteed, "It's Time to Try the Opposite of Standardized Testing," gallup.com, Mar. , 2018
74.John Rosales, "The Racist Beginnings of Standardized Testing," nea.org, Apr. 24, 2018
75.Frontline, "Interview: James Popham," pbs.org, Apr. 25, 2001
76.Young Whan Choi, "How to Address Racial Bias in Standardized Testing," nextgenlearning.org, Mar. 31, 2020
77.Christopher Bergland, "Why Do Rich Kids Have Higher Standardized Test Scores?," psychologytoday.com, Apr. 18, 2015
78.Eloy Ortiz Oakley, "Commentary: Standardized Tests Reward Kids from Wealthy Families," sandiegouniontribune.com, Nov. 27, 2019
79.Matt Barnum, "No Thanks, Obama: 9 States No Longer Require Test Scores Be Used to Judge Teachers," chalkbeat.org, Oct. 8, 2019
80.National Council on Teacher Quality, "State of the States 2019," Oct. 2019
81.W. James Popham, "Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality," ascd.org, Mar. 1999
82.Margaret Pastor, "Why Standardized Tests Aren't Working for Teachers or Students," edweek.org, June 19, 2019
83."Research Finds that High School GPAs Are Stronger Predictors of College Graduation than ACT Scores," aera.net. Jan. 28, 2020
84.Matthew M. Chingos, "What Matters Most for College Completion? Academic Preparation is a Key of Success," thirdway.org, May 25, 2018
85.Anya Kamenetz, "States Must Test Student Learning This Spring, Biden Administration Says," npr.org, Feb. 23, 2021
86.Jason Song, "Teachers Blast L.A. Times for Releasing Effectiveness Rankings," latimes.com, Aug. 30, 2010
87.Anya Kamenetz, "Anti-Test 'Opt-Out' Movement Makes A Wave In New York State," npr.org, Apr. 20, 2015
88.National Council on Teacher Quality, "Teacher and Principal Evaluation Policies," nctq.org, Nov. 2022
89.Mariah St John and Brenna Swanston, "Which State Has The Best Test Scores? Analyzing Standardized Testing Trends," forbes.com, Feb. 7, 2024
90.Dana Goldstein, "What the New, Low Test Scores for 13-Year-Olds Say About U.S. Education Now," nytimes.com, June 21, 2023