What is at stake without high-stakes exams? Students’ evaluation and admission to college at the time of COVID-19

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 inhibited face-to-face education and constrained exam taking. In many countries worldwide, high-stakes exams happening at the end of the school year determine college admissions. This paper investigates the impact of using historical data of school and high-stakes exams results to train a model to predict high-stakes exams given the available data in the Spring. The most transparent and accurate model turns out to be a linear regression model with high school GPA as the main predictor. Further analysis of the predictions reflect how high-stakes exams relate to GPA in high school for different subgroups in the population. Predicted scores slightly advantage females and low SES individuals, who perform relatively worse in high-stakes exams than in high school. Our preferred model accounts for about 50% of the out-of-sample variation in the high-stakes exam. On average, the student rank using predicted scores differs from the actual rank by almost 17 percentiles. This suggests that either high-stakes exams capture individual skills that are not measured by high school grades or that high-stakes exams are a noisy measure of the same skill.     

A regression discontinuity analysis of graduation standards and their impact on students’ academic trajectories

In 2006, North Carolina put in place high school exit standards requiring students to pass a series of high-stakes exams across several years. I use a regression discontinuity (RD) approach to analyze whether passing or failing one of these exams (Algebra I) impacts a student's decision between choosing a more rigorous college-preparatory math curriculum and an easier ‘career’ track math curriculum. I find a 5 percentage point gap in the probability of selecting the rigorous curriculum between 9th grade students who just passed and those who just failed the exam. RD results across two years (one year in which the graduation standards were not in place) suggest that the discontinuity arose due to fewer students opting into the college track as a result of the exam results.     

A Moral Revisioning of Resistance

Recent educational accountability efforts have married student assessments with reform mandates and sanctions. As a result, students—beginning in early elementary grades—are feeling the pressures of this new era of high-stakes accountability. This article chronicles a story of the consequences of high-stakes testing on a father and his son.     

Understanding the response to financial and non-financial incentives in education: Field experimental evidence using high-stakes assessments

We analyze the impact on high-stakes assessments of incentivizing students’ effort in a field experiment with over 10,000 high school students. We contribute to the literature by using our rich data and machine learning techniques to explore treatment heterogeneity; by comparing financial and non-financial rewards in rewarding effort rather than grades; and by using high-stakes outcomes. We find little average impact of incentives in the overall population, but we identify a “right tail” of highly responsive students: in the upper half of the responsiveness distribution, test scores improve by 0.1-0.2 SD, about half the attainment gap between poor and non-poor students.     

Teaching for deeper political learning: a design experiment

Is in-depth political learning possible in college-preparatory courses known for curricular breadth at an accelerated pace plus a high-stakes exam? A multidisciplinary research team conducted design-based implementation research (DBIR) for seven years across three school systems for the purpose of achieving deeper learning in an ‘advanced’ high school government and politics course. This article reports findings from the final year of research and development. The design centres on cyclical learning, projects (simulated political processes) and strategic use of texts as resources for learning the curriculum. Quantitative analysis shows comparable achievement to students in traditional classrooms on the high-stakes summative assessment despite the dramatic departure from test-prep instruction. Qualitative analyses focus on two of the design elements: learning from simulations and learning from text. The first allowed students to ‘experience’ political beliefs, institutions, and conflict, although simulated; the second required students to learn subject matter not only from simulations and teacher lectures but from texts, too. The discussion shows how these two in combination with cyclical learning required skilful attention to content selection. We conclude that when deeper learning is the goal, content selection cannot be elided or presumed, particularly with respect to the articulation of depth and breadth in curriculum and instruction.     

“‘Sink or swim’: buoyancy and coping in the cognitive test anxiety – academic performance relationship”

This study explores the relationship between students’ self-report levels of cognitive test anxiety (worry), academic buoyancy (withstanding and successfully responding to routine school challenges and setbacks), coping processes and their achieved grades in high-stakes national examinations at the end of compulsory schooling. The sample comprised 325 English students in their final year of secondary school preparing for high-stakes examinations. While controlling for prior attainment and gender, higher worry predicted lower examinations scores. This was partially mediated by less use of effective pre-exam coping strategies. Academic buoyancy moderated the indirect relationship such that the indirect negative relationship from worry to examination performance was stronger when academic buoyancy was lower. The paper concludes that providing in-school training in task-focus and orientation and how to withstand academic pressures may help to ameliorate the influence of performance-interfering worries, and potentially enhance performance among students inclined to worry about examinations.     

An Experiment with Grouping of Freshman English Composition Students

The thesis that low grades cause college students to give up receives some support from early psychological research and from current reinforcement theories. In the present study the effects on subsequent grades of low, average, and high first exam grades were investigated for 192 students in a traditional grading system and fifty-four students in a pass-fail grading system. When regression effects were eliminated, it was found that students receiving D’s and F’s dropped out significantly more than other students, but low graded students who continued the course did better on a later exam. Relative to others, students receiving A’s on the first exam did significantly better on a second exam. Students on the pass-fail system did not show any significant effects from first exam grades, but overall they received significantly lower grades than those on the traditional grading system. The results, though inconclusive, support grading systems which minimize low grades and maximize high grades.     

私立学校初中生心理健康状况调查及其分析

本研究采用自编的《初中生心理健康量表》对私立学校314名初中生的心理健康状况进行抽样调查。结果表明,私立学校初中生在学习习惯、考试焦虑、人际沟通、自制力方面较易产生困扰;初中生心理健康水平存在显著的年级差异;男女生的心理健康水平在考试焦虑、异性交往存在显著差异;私立学校初中生心理健康水平好于公立学校学生。     

To cheat or not to cheat: effects of moral perspective and situational variables on students' attitudes

One hundred and ninety‐six Israeli middle‐school students participated in a study that explored the effects of moral orientation (moral versus conventional)and of three situational variables on attitudes toward two types of cheating in school exams—copying from others (‘active’)and letting others copy (‘passive’). Several vignettes that were comprised of different combinations of the three situational variables—exam importance, supervision level and peers' norms—were used as the main instrument. It was found that a‐morally oriented students approved significantly more of cheating than morally oriented students. Importance of exam had marginally significant effects on active copying. Level of supervision during exam and classmates' norms had significant effects on both active and passive cheating attitudes.     

Short-term gain at long-term cost? How resit policy can affect student learning

Unlike many other high-stakes exams which test students only at the end of a course, the English A levels use a modular format where students are allowed to resit past units within the course. Since the introduction of resits for A levels in 2000, the A level results have been improving significantly and resits are seen as the main reason for the big increases. Using the findings of research based on the accounts of students and teaching staff, this article examines some of the less obvious effects of resits on student learning than that reflected by exam results in terms of students’ approach to learning. It concludes that allowing unlimited resits in high-stakes exams could produce some undesirable consequences for student learning and could be unfair and unfit for the purposes of the exam.     

What's trust got to do with it? The ‘washback effect’ of engagement in the 2020 calculated grades process on teachers' trust and future senior cycle reform in Ireland

In Ireland, the high-stakes Leaving Certificate Examination at the end of upper secondary education was abruptly cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, calculated grades were introduced, necessitating for the first time the involvement of secondary school teachers in the assessment of their own students for certification. This article reports on analysis of responses to an online survey with 713 respondents conducted in the autumn of 2020, focusing on teacher experiences of engagement in the process of calculated grades in their schools and how this might inform perceptions of their future roles as assessors. Among the key findings to emerge from re-analyses of these data are inter alia that, for some teachers, (1) negotiation of student grades with colleagues—particularly those at grade boundaries—caused them to question the professional judgements of peers; (2) release by the Department of Education and Skills of student ranks, in addition to grades, constituted a breach of trust because it ran contrary to what they understood had been agreed initially; and (3) living and working in small towns or rural communities in Ireland left them very vulnerable to disgruntled students and their families—resulting in the perception that trust in their professional judgements had been undermined. Hence, the conclusion that the success of Senior Cycle reform efforts is contingent on both rebuilding teachers' trust over time while also working, in the immediate term, with teachers interested in exploring further their roles in school-based assessment for certification purposes.     

校园调查:高三学子看高考

通过调查分析显示,高三学子认为参加高考既是个人意愿,又是别无选择的唯一出路;高考不应"一考定终身",而应该有多次考试机会,赞成加考面试;支持高校自主招生,招生依据应该是考生高考成绩、综合能力、思想品德和心理素质等方面的综合;现行高考制度比较公平,但效率不高;考试命题不能很好地考查考生运用知识解决问题的能力,希望能在公平的前提下,进一步提高考试效率。     

High School Exit Exam Scores and University Performance

Many U.S. students must pass a standards-based exit exam to earn a high school diploma. The degree to which exit exams and state standards properly signal to students their preparedness for postsecondary schooling has been questioned. The alignment of test scores with college grades for students at the University of Arizona (n = 2,667) who took the Arizona high school exams was ascertained in this study. The pass/fail signal accuracy of test scores varied depending on subject: The writing cut score was well aligned with collegiate performance, the reading cut score was below expectations, and the mathematics cut score was set quite rigorously. High school content and performance standards might not be as diluted as prior research has suggested.     

Entrance test accommodations,admission and enrollment of students with learning disabilities in teacher training colleges in Israel

The ‘Saf’ (threshold) exam is the entry exam taken by approximately 40% of the students enrolled in teacher training colleges in Israel. Students with learning disabilities may apply and be granted testing accommodations on this exam. This study examines the percentage of students with testing accommodations among the testees and those who began their studies in 2003. Their test and subtest scores were compared to those of students without accommodations as were grades on high school matriculation exams. Characteristics such as gender, age, difficulties as reported in assessments and assessment history were examined. Enrollment patterns in the various colleges departments were noted. Satisfaction with the testing accommodations process was looked at as well. Ramifications and recommendations are discussed vis a vis future research needed and policies regarding the admission of students with learning disabilities to institutions of higher learning.     

Head Teachers' Perspectives on School Drop-Out in Secondary Schools in Rural Punjab,Pakistan

This study investigates head teachers' perspectives of the school dropout problem at public secondary schools in rural Punjab, Pakistan. The study is based on qualitative methods and included interviews to collect primary data. Sixteen districts of the Punjab where secondary school dropout rate is above 20% were purposively selected for the study. The findings indicate that—other than some socioeconomic and individual factors—different exam patterns at primary, elementary, and secondary levels; easy promotion policy in early classes; English medium syllabus; substandard educational background of students; high failure rate in class 9; and top-down pressures on teachers to perform nonacademic duties are major causes of children dropping out from school. The findings of the study suggest that only through implementation of a socio-culturally compatible syllabus—a corresponding examination system for all levels—allowing students to repeat class 9 in case they fail, setting teachers free from nonteaching duties and providing extra financial support to economically underprivileged students can significantly prevent school dropout at secondary level. The study further argues that easy promotion policy in early classes may retain more children at school but it causes high rates of dropout from secondary classes.     

公、私立学校学生学习动力的比较研究

目的:了解公、私立学校学生学习动力的差异。方法:通过问卷对梅州市随机抽取的443名公立学校和私立学校高一学生进行调查,考察公、私立学校学生学习动力的差异。结果表明:公、私立高一学生学习动力水平一般,平均等级为中等及偏下,高一学生表现出考试焦虑程度较高,学习热情偏低,学习毅力水平较强的特点;公、私立高一学生在考试焦虑因素上达到显著差异,总体上公立学校学生的动力水平高于私立学校学生。结论:公、私立学生在考试焦虑上达到显著水平,其他因素没有显著差异。     

私立学校初中生心理健康状况调查及其分析

通过对私立学校314名初中生的心理健康状况进行抽样调查,结果表明:(1)私立学校初中生在学习习惯、考试焦虑、人际沟通、自制力方面较易产生困扰;(2)心理健康水平存在显著的年级差异;(3)男女生的心理健康水平不存在显著的差异;(4)私立学校初中生心理健康水平好于公立学校学生。     

SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE,MATRICULATION GRADES,AND GROUP INTERVIEW AS PREDICTORS OF PERFORMANCE IN NURSING SCHOOL

This study examines the predictive validity of three commonly used nursing school admission indices, that is, scholastic aptitude test scores, matriculation grades, and evaluations of performance in a group interview situation, in a sample of 321 Israeli nursing school students. Grade point average, supervisor evaluation of clinical internship, and scores on a government certification exam served as primary indices of criterion performance. Whereas composite aptitude test scores correlated moder ately with both grade point average and certification exam scores, matriculation grades correlated negligibly with all three criterion measures. Group interview ratings correlated moderately with clinical performance, but negligibly with the remaining criteria. Aptitude test scores were not found to be biased predictors of criterion performance by ethnicity or social background. The implications of these findings for the selection of nursing school candidates in Israel are discussed.     

Cutting Class Harms Grades

An accessible business school population of undergraduate students was investigated in three independent, but related studies to determine effects on grades due to cutting class and failing to take advantage of optional reviews and study quizzes. It was hypothesized that cutting classes harms exam scores, attending preexam reviews helps exam scores, taking optional exam preparation quizzes helps exam scores, and earlier exam scores in the semester predict later exam scores. Using an objective measurement method of actual events and actual exam scores instead of the predominant nonexperimental survey method most often used, it was found that all hypotheses were significant and supported in the predicted direction. Implications for professors and students are provided, revealing that cutting class, missing preexam reviews, and ignoring chapter quizzes effects are real and they matter.     

The Wrath of High-Stakes Tests

Testing has become an attractive option for policymakers both because it has the potential to affect the behavior of educators in the educational system and because it is often viewed by the public as a way to guarantee a basic level of quality education. Whatever the reasons, formal testing tied to grade promotion and graduation continues to spread throughout the United States. A qualitative narrative is provided regarding the importance of the preparation of three minority students, Snuffi, Jasmine, and Wanda, for their high-stakes mathematics test. Afterward a critique of high-stakes tests, particularly for minority students as a requirement for high school graduation in public school districts in this country is also provided. Implications are discussed for further research in mathematics education.