European Journal of Educational Research, 2018

Anxiety that students experience during test taking negatively influences their academic achievement. Understanding how students perceive tests and how they feel during test taking could help in taking effective preventive measures. Hence, the current study focused on assessing children's perceptions of tests using content analysis. The sample consisted of 1143 participants (566 females and 570 males) attending 3rd (n = 320), 4th (n = 420), 5th (n = 197), and 6th (n = 206) grade classes in three public schools in Istanbul, Turkey. The findings indicated that three main domains emerged from the data. The domains and the categories under each domain were as follows: evaluation (grades, success vs. failure, learning and development, and intelligence), emotions (excitement, fear and anxiety, happiness, curiosity, mixed feelings, and disappointment), and experiential process (answering questions, studying, difficulty, thinking, having fun, cheating vs. honesty, and silence). Understanding students' experiences with testing early on in their education will give researchers and practitioners the chance to plan effective applications for treatment and prevention, which would influence students' future achievement and experiences. The study findings could also help teachers and school counselors plan more effective teaching and counseling programs that take into account students' anxiety levels during tests.

education policy analysis archives, 2004

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether teachers perceived Florida's high-stakes testing program to be taking public schools in the right direction. More importantly, we sought to understand why teachers perceived the tests to be taking schools in the right or wrong direction. Based on the survey results of 708 teachers, we categorized their concerns and praises of high-stakes testing into ten themes. Most of the teachers believed that the testing program was not taking schools in the right direction. They commented that the test was used improperly and that the one-time test scores were not an accurate assessment of students' learning and development. In addition, they cited negative effects on the curriculum, teaching and learning, and student and teacher motivation. The positive effects cited were much fewer in number and included the fact that the testing held students, educators, and parents accountable for their actions. Interestingly, teachers were not opposed to accountability, but rather, opposed the manner in which it was currently implemented. Only by understanding these positive and negative effects of the testing program can policymakers hope to improve upon it. To this end, we discuss several implications of these findings, including: limiting the use of test scores, changing the school grading criteria, using alternative assessments, modifying the curriculum, and taking steps to reduce teaching to the test.

Journal of Education and Human Development, 2014

Since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, high stakes testing has continued to be one of the major driving forces behind educational reform. In this study, Georgia teachers' beliefs about the effects of high stakes testing were examined. A random sample of teachers from 100 of Georgia's elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools responded to a 49-item survey measured on a fivepoint Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Items were grouped into six domains: curriculum, teaching, work satisfaction, stress, accountability, and students. Teachers' responses did not differ by gender, educational level, or school level. African American teachers responded more positively than White teachers on the survey. Teachers' positive and negative responses were discussed and recommendations were made for teachers and school leaders.

2006

—The study of high-stakes tests and various effects of such tests is an educational need and it is recommended by curriculum planners and educational researchers. This paper, therefore, aimed to explore the effects of the Iranian universities entrance exam on the high school English teachers. The Entrance Exam of the Universities (EEU) in Iran is a multiple-choice competitive high-stakes test that affects the teachers, students, parents and even other stakeholders. This negative or positive effect, generally known as washback, depends on the test itself, the curriculum, the stakeholders, and even the aim and scope of the test. To investigate the teachers' perceptions of the EEU washback effect, a validated survey questionnaire was administered to stratified random sample of 132 high school English teachers who were teaching in the five main educational districts in the city of Isfahan, Iran. The descriptive data analysis revealed that little attention was given to three language skills of speaking, writing, and listening in the classroom as these skills are not tested in the EEU. Moreover, the EEU negatively and implicitly influences English teachers to teach to the test format.

Journal of Educational Sciences Research, 2018

The aim of this research was to reveal 5th grade middle school students' perceptions of testing (examination) using their drawings (pictures). The students were asked to draw a picture that reflected their ideas about the concept of testing. This qualitative research was based on a phenomenological model. The sample of the study was 250 students attending a private middle school with branches in different provinces of Turkey. The collected data was analyzed in order to reveal the implicit content. According to the results of the content analysis, the students' drawings on their perception of the concept of testing were classified into 12 categories. The most and least represented categories were found to be anxiety and intelligence, respectively. The student drawings included in the categories of anxiety, grade anxiety, threat, and punishment constituted 60.7% of all the drawings, indicating that the students generally had a negative perception concerning exams. Although the drawings appear to be entertaining, they do provide evidence of the psychological effects of exams on students.

2002

The study was situated in an elementary school located in an urban setting in the southwestern part of the United States. The school serves a low SES minority neighborhood of predominantly Hispanic students who have traditionally not scored well on standardized wide-scale achievement tests. Often teachers in this setting engage their students in test preparations which reflect a skill-based approach to literacy teaching as opposed to a focus on higher level thinking and a transactional approach to literacy instruction. The teacher who is the focus of this study embraces a learner-centered view of instruction. She aims to promote critical thinking among her students through the reading of good literature, engagement in activities that build on students' knowledge base, and promotion of learner constructed knowledge. Her expectations for student accomplishment do not endorse a deficit view of children's intellect and potential. The results of the study suggest that teachers who facilitate student's knowledge development rather than engaging in test preparations, along with principals who support teachers in the "literacy of thoughtfulness," can help minority students score well on standardized achievement tests.

1999

This paper reviews recent developments in the growth of testing as a requirement for high school graduation for K-12 public school systems throughout the United States. It then examines performance patterns on such tests by focusing on results for students indifferent racial and ethnic groups in several states. The multiple meanings of the movement to require students to pass formal statewide tests in order to receive a high school diploma are considered. Twenty-two states currently have such requirements, and an additional five states are developing examinations that will be required for high school graduation. There is little consensus about the impact of high stakes testing on students, teachers, schools, and the general public's perception of education. Without considering the ultimate impact of such tests, this paper reviews the immediate impact by examining the test scores of students from different racial and ethnic groups in Texas, New York, and Minnesota. For each state, the history of state graduation testing, current regulations about exemptions from the tests, racial and ethnic group performance differences, and legal challenges to high school graduation tests are reviewed. If the motivational consequences of high school graduation tests are not positive or at least not uniformly positive cross racial, ethnic, and social class lines, as some research has suggested, then these tests may have the potential to exacerbate further substantial inequities in schooling outcomes. Whatever the interpretation one prefers to place on the high stakes testing movement, there are things that can be done to improve the use of such tests. These center around research into test construction and test use to ensure equal opportunity. (Contains 17 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

education policy analysis archives

In this exploratory mixed methods survey study, we assess preservice teachers’ (n=379) experiences with and beliefs about their high-stakes testing experiences and analyze how they relate to their beliefs about the role and efficacy of high-stakes testing in education and their future profession. Using Likert, vignette, and open-ended response opportunities, we gauged preservice teachers’ beliefs about accountability and the role of high-stakes testing in three ways: (a) what are their personal experiences with high-stakes testing, (b) what are their their beliefs about accountability and high-stakes testing in general, and (b) what role does accountability (and testing pressures) play in their future workplace preferences? Results indicate that preservice teachers’ experiences with and beliefs about high-stakes testing accountability vary based on gender, ethnicity, and previous experiences with high-stakes tests. Importantly, although in aggregate our participants reported they ge...

Every teacher knows that the most detested of all school activities for students are tests and exams, including writing of course. So, whenever they have to sit for a test or exam, they feel nervous, alarmed, worried and irritated. Because they are haunted by the frightening nightmare of failure, they are constantly thinking about the mark or the score more than about the learning achievements. Tests for them are always nightmares no matter how easy the questions are. They are never emotionally ready although they have done their utmost revising their lessons well. They are allergic to some verbs in the imperative like, Rewrite, Answer, Choose, Put, Fill in, Explain, Complete, Write, etc.