High Stakes Testing Curriculum Control Qualitative Analysis

Summary

High-stakes tests are important decision-making tests about the students, whether they would be promoted to the next class, whether they would get admission in higher studies college or university, or whether they would be graduated from an institute (Ritt, 2016). The impact of designing the curriculum in a certain educational institution has been a debate for the past few decades since various stakeholders have to re-think the opportunities these tests can bring for the students in their future academic and career lines. The selected article talks about how high-stakes testing had control over the formulation of the curriculum and the classroom practices of teaching (Au, 2007).

The topic’s significance could be perceived as high stakes testing supporting making crucial decisions about a student. Therefore, the selected article’s research question focused on contemplating the curriculum conducive to getting bright grades in such tests. The center of the selected article’s research is the center of the student-centered pedagogies and their integration into the curriculum for students’ expansion of knowledge and better preparation for high-stakes tests.

Analysis

The method used for sampling in the selected article is metasynthesis of the studies that used qualitative methods for research. The author’s reason for choosing qualitative studies is that they are close to the daily functioning of the schools and human interactions taking place within. To understand the general nature of occurrence, 49 qualitative studies were selected from certain databases by using specific keywords. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were set to extract relevant articles, the true systematic literature review method.

The data analysis techniques involve coding method for theme identification out of the numerous selected articles for qualitative method analysis regarding the research question. Research has revealed that it is the systematic method for categorizing the data into themes so that phenomenon of interest could be evaluated better (Nowell et al., 2017). The selected article was carried out in the same way so that trail of evidence along with credibility could be ensured.

The findings and conclusion of the article demonstrated certain themes that high-stakes tests impose over the curriculum design: content control, formal control, and pedagogical control. However, a gap was identified in the qualitative studies that exerted control over three curriculum areas, which connected with the curriculum based on student diversity. Diversity inclusion and the design of student-centered curriculum have been discussed recently (Dong et al., 2019), which might have different results on high stakes tests and their inverse impact on curriculum formulation and control.

The conjecture as implications for further study suggests that inclusion of student-centered curriculum should be considered when the subject matter and development of knowledge is to be explored regarding high-stakes tests. This would expand the horizon for diverse ethnic students and their performance in high-stakes testing, along with their future academic performance.

I would apply the learnings from the selected article in an educational context by staying in touch with the current high-stakes testing strategies and the governmental policies that create those tests to investigate their impact on the curriculum. Therefore, the teaching pedagogy would be emphasized on concept teaching so that positive feedback for the students creates positive achievement scores in the future rather than rote memorization (Phelps, 2012), which is not encouraged in these tests.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to reinstate that the selected reading covered the topic sufficiently. My opinions of the matter were not challenged. Rather, it helped expand my understanding of the state testing system standardized for equal evaluation of all students without discrimination and just based on their capabilities and merit. Concerning reliability, the article itself mentions two strategies to certify this element that contributes to the accuracy and genuineness of the findings, leading to its validity. It was enlightening to know that high-stakes tests have control over the curriculum, whereas I had vice-versa beliefs.