Reclassification is a critical threshold when English Learners (ELs) exit specialized language services and access all-English mainstream classrooms. Despite the mandates of the Every Student Succeeds Act, reclassification rates and time remain a pressing problem. A product of this malfunctioning system has been long-term ELs (LTELs). This article…

Overreliance on standardized testing sends a message to students that learning is remembering facts, and that intelligence is a function of how quickly people can do things. In schools around the country, the content and style of teaching are being placed in the service of the tests. (MLF)

This paper reports on the promises and pitfalls of the recently legislated basic skills testing requirement for teaching or service credential applicants in California. The California Basic Education Skills Test (CBEST), developed by Educational Testing Service from specifications set by Advisory Board to the State Department of Education, tests…

This survey on modifications allowed for students with disabilities by 30 states in statewide criterion-referenced testing programs found no universal agreement about modifications. Accommodations in Test Setting and Test Scheduling were more frequently allowed than revisions in Test Directions or Test Format. Assistance devices and accommodations…

Standardized tests represent one way of obtaining assessment information. Yet in recent years educators and the public have voiced concerns about an overriding emphasis on tests and test scores. Pressure to "teach to the test" means that not enough time is spent on higher order thinking and literacy skills because minimal competencies…

In this study, over 100 teachers completed open-ended surveys on how they prepare students for the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills and the test's effects on students, teachers, and schools. High-stakes testing has become the object rather than the measure of teaching and learning, negatively affecting curriculum, teacher decision making,…

Findings of a study that sought to determine teachers' and principals' perceptions concerning state-mandated testing are presented in this paper. Data were gathered through interviews with 30 fifth- and sixth-grade teachers and 12 principals in 3 states--Tennessee, Illinois, and New York--where statewide testing has been implemented for 30 years,…