To better understand how high-stakes accountability has influenced teaching and learning, this book takes an in-depth look at the myriad consequences that high-stakes tests hold for students, teachers, administrators, and the public. By focusing on these tests and spending large amounts of time on test preparation and driving teachers to teach low-level, rote memorization, schools are essentially wiping out non-tested subjects such as science, social studies, physical education, and the arts. Although testing is promoted as a strategy for improving education for all, research shows that testing has differential effects on students with special needs, minority students, students living in poverty, and those for whom English is a second language. The Unintended Consequences of High Stakes Testing unpacks the assumptions and philosophical foundations on which testing policies are based. The authors' arguments are grounded in extensive interviews and research. Through an examination of research, these authors show that high-stakes testing promotes students' dependence on extrinsic motivation at the cost of intrinsic motivation and the associated love of learning—which has tangible impacts on their education and lives. Features: -Examines how high stakes testing from the perspectives of teachers, students, and adminstrators. -Considers how testing impacts the curriculum including tested subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics as well as non-tested subjects such as science, social studies, physical education, and the arts. -Documents how teachers and administrators engage in test preparation and discusses ethical and unethical test preparation practices. -Reviews the evolution of testing through history and how it mpacts the curriculum. -Examines the differential effects of testing on students with special needs, minority students, students living in poverty, and those for whom English is a second language.

This book offers a comprehensive critique of how the assessment industry and standardized testing adversely impact students, teachers, and society. The authors present the case that the interconnected developments of the testing industry and the Assessment Industrial Complex (AIC) have effectively anchored American schooling to testing. Using an antiracist lens, the authors deconstruct the AIC, exposing the neoliberal agenda of education reformers and how proponents utilize the rhetoric of testing, and the data extracted from them, to normalize the reliance on AIC systems. This critique further exposes education reformers’ ideological agenda, their hypocrisy, and how they grossly profit from the AIC at the expense of society’s marginalized and most vulnerable students. The COVID-19 pandemic, society’s racial unrest, and anti-testing movements have aligned to underscore the need to examine systemic oppression and the impact it has on society through our education system. This text exposes how standardized testing perpetuates these injustices and provides the opportunity to disrupt the systems they rely upon and bolster the societal resistance that is needed.

What are the direct and indirect influences of principals on student achievement? How do successful principals motivate others? What kinds of relationships do they have with parents, students, and staff? Principals and Student Achievement identifies 26 essential traits and behaviors of effective principals to show how they achieve success as instructional leaders. Based on a review of 81 key research articles from the last 20 years, this concise book examines how certain practices can affect student achievement, including: * Communication and interaction * Classroom observation and feedback to teachers * Recognition of student and staff achievement * Dedication to a safe and orderly school environment * Support of professional development of staff * Role modeling The book also reviews differences in instructional leadership between elementary and secondary principals, male and female principals, principals in high- and low-socioeconomic-status schools, and more. We all know that principals are important to student success, but few people have pinpointed exactly how they make a positive difference. At a time when principals are being asked to do more for school reform and accountability, Principals and Student Achievement provides a valuable resource for identifying what it takes to be an effective principal and, in turn, an effective school.

Callahan takes readers on a gripping tour of cheating in America and makes a powerful case for why it matters. The author blames the dog-eat-dog economic climate of the past 20 years for corroding values.