Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education

Author: National Research Council of the National Academies

Year: 2011

This extensive and nearly 10-year long study undertaken by leading educators, economists, and psychologists with support from the U.S. Department of Education and several foundations carries a strong message: high-stakes assessments and incentives such as those mandated in NCLB, high school exit exams, and merit pay for teachers have little or no effect on student learning, and sometimes have negative consequences. While numerous studies and critics of testing and high-stakes assessment have sounded these warnings for years, the prestige and influence of the National Academies and the committee who drafted the report sends one of the strongest signals yet to policy-makers and education officials that we should proceed slowly - if at all - with high-stakes measures of education.

Links:

• Full report PDF available with free registration - https://download.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12521#description
• EdWeek Article on report from 6/8/2011 - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/06/08/33academy-2.h30.html?qs=panel+finds+few+learning

Reference:
Committee on Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Public Education (2011). Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education. Washington, DC: National Academies of Science.

Submitted by Dana Bennis on: Thursday, June 09, 2011 - 9:45 am

Tags for this entry:
testing, education policy, high-stakes, incentives