1st Edition

High Stakes Testing New Challenges and Opportunities for School Psychology

Edited By Louis J. Kruger, David Shriberg Copyright 2007
    196 Pages
    by Routledge

    196 Pages
    by Routledge

    Meet the challenges of high stakes testing in the practice of school psychology

    School psychologists can be a positive influence on how students, teachers, parents, schools, and communities cope with the challenges and opportunities associated with high stakes testing. Unfortunately, there has been a significant lack of literature to guide school psychologists and related school-based practitioners on this topic. High Stakes Testing: New Challenges and Opportunities for School Psychology is a timely groundbreaking book that provides useful and thought-provoking information to help psychologists meet the challenges of high stakes testing and create new roles for themselves in helping children succeed. This book discusses practical ways to help provide academic support to facilitate student success on high stakes tests, reduce the impact of stress associated with high stakes testing, assess the data from the tests to improve programs, and take a leadership role in the appropriate use of the tests.

    The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001(NCLB) and its accountability provisions has helped create and sustain a climate where student performance on state-created achievement tests often has high stakes implications for students, families, and schools. High Stakes Testing: New Challenges and Opportunities for School Psychology provides important background information about high stakes testing, including the legal, historical, and political context of high stakes testing, pertinent psychometrics, and a review of research on academic and non-academic outcomes as it relates to high stakes testing. Using this information as a foundation, the book then identifies new roles and opportunities for school psychologists with respect to high stakes testing. This book is comprehensively referenced.

    Topics in High Stakes Testing: New Challenges and Opportunities for School Psychology include:

    • advocating for the appropriate use of state-wide assessments
    • the influence of item response theory (IRT) on the development of high stakes tests
    • whether the accountability system of NCLB is truly improving student’s learning
    • the impact of high stakes tests on classroom instruction and student motivation
    • strategies for helping students succeed on high stakes tests
    • available resources to cope with the stress of high stakes testing
    • and more

    High Stakes Testing: New Challenges and Opportunities for School Psychology is a thought-provoking, horizon-expanding resource for school psychologists, public school educators, administrators, school counselors, curriculum coordinators, and special education teachers involved in organizing, administering, and preparing students to take high stakes tests.

    • About the Contributors
    • Introduction and Overview: High Stakes Testing (David Shriberg and Louis J. Kruger)
    • SECTION 1: THE CHALLENGES, PROBLEMS, AND DILEMMAS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH STATES TESTING
    • Large-Scale Assessment, Rationality, and Scientific Management: The Case of No Child Left Behind (Andrew T. Roach and Jennifer L. Frank)
    • Measurement Issues in High Stakes Testing: Validity and Reliability (Emanuel J. Mason)
    • High Stakes Testing: Does It Increase Achievement? (Sharon L. Nichols)
    • The Unintended Outcomes of High-Stakes Testing (Brett D. Jones)
    • SECTION 2: NEW ROLES FOR SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS
    • Providing Academic Support for Teachers and Students in High Stakes Learning Environments (Judy Elliott)
    • Coping with the Stress of High Stakes Testing (Louis J. Kruger, Caroline Wandle, and Joan Struzziero)
    • Using Data from High-Stakes Testing in Program Planning and Evaluation (Jeffery P. Braden)
    • The School Psychologists as Leader and Change Agent in a High-Stakes Era (David Shriberg)
    • Index
    • Reference Notes Included

    Biography

    Louis J. Kruger, David Shriberg