High-stakes tests may damage teaching quality

A new article published in the American Educational Research Journal has found that the quality of instructional support (i.e., teaching methods and classroom organization) is lower when teachers are under the greatest pressure to increase test performance. 

The authors used two years of observation data from a cohort of Baltimore City public school students who were first graders during the 2007-08 school year. A total of 348 observations took place in 23 classrooms in eight selected schools, when the children were in second grade and third grade. 

Using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), the researchers found that in the months leading up to high-stakes testing in the third grade, teachers in these classrooms offered lower levels of instructional support than second grade teachers who were not experiencing the same level of accountability pressure. However, observations after the tests revealed the quality of instructional support was indistinguishable between the second and third grade.

The authors suggest that accountability policies do not necessarily need to have negative consequences for classroom quality, but could be designed to improve it by including relevant measures.

Johns Hopkins University 

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