Dreizin 1 Noelle Dreizin Jane Blakelock ENG 2100-43 27 February 2014 Annotated Bibliography As a future educator, I feel compelled

to look further into the impact that standardized tests have on students and teachers and the complete school experience. As a Social Sciences Education major, my goal is to teach Social Studies at the high school level, but I fear that the teaching curriculum does, and will, cater to preparing students for testing, which will in turn hinder my ability to teach creatively. I question whether the standardized tests are accurate and effective indicators of students knowledge and teachers performance. These sources all seek to support the argument that standardized tests need improvements in order to truly be indicative of students abilities to understand material and of teachers performances in the classroom. American Federation of Teachers. AFT Report Shows the High Cost of Overtesting. AFT: A Union of Professionals. 2013. This is a summary of a larger report called Testing More, Teaching Less: What Americas Obsession with Student Testing Costs in Money and Lost Instructional Time. This will be useful for my paper because it explains in simple terms what we could be getting if we stopped standardized testing. The report says that if we swap out this money spent on testing, then we could use it for better books or technology; if we swap out the hours of administering tests and preparing students for the tests, we could get these hours back in more class periods. For my paper, I will use the summary to explain why high-stakes testing is detrimental for students and teachers, as well as the whole country.

Dreizin 2 Brighton, Catherine M; Hall, Catherine J; Jarvis, Jane M; Moon, Tanya R. State Standardized Testing Programs: Their Effects on Teachers and Students. The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. University of Connecticut. 2009. This study was conducted by three different universities to observe and interpret data on how students perceive standardized tests and how teachers believe the testing affects curriculum. There is not an argument, but the study finds that both students and teachers feel stressed about standardized tests and that it does affect the teachers teaching style. This study points out that the environment that the standardized tests bring about pressures students, but this can be considered a negative or a positive effect. This study is helpful for teachers, administrators, and perhaps even the creators of the standardized tests. It is important to understand how standardized tests affect students mentally in order to make improvements on future tests. Hurdle, Jon and Motoko Rich. Erased Answers on Tests in Philadelphia Lead to a Three-Year Cheating Scandal. New York Times 24 January 2014: A16. Print. This New York Times article discusses the implications of cheating on standardized tests and the causes of cheating on these types of tests. The article uses a specific case of cheating that includes administrators, principals, and teachers and argues that the main cause of cheating comes from the pressure to have students do well in order to maintain funding for the school. The article uses quotes from parents who children go to the schools in Philadelphia, ranging from a grandfather to a mother who is the co-founder of Parents United for Public Education. The article points out that many teachers and activists argue that testing has been overly influential at many schools and therefore causes a stressful culture that takes away from the experience of teaching and learning, as well as pointing out that funding for schools and keeping teachers employed has become more dependent on test scores for the district. Although this article has

Dreizin 3 some opinionated quotes from parents, it does not stray from the real issue, which was the question of why the administrators and teachers felt so much pressure for the students to score well on the standardized tests. Kohn, Alfie. The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000. Print. <http://partnershipforsmarterschools.org/Case%20Against%20Testing%20Kohn.pdf> This book by Alfie Kohn argues that standardized testing can be negative for students, as indicated by the title. Kohn uses an interview approach, using questions and then having answers to those questions that relate to standardized testing. The questions are presented almost as in a conversation, with the next question being continued from the first question; therefore the questions build from one another. It is opinionated but there are really good arguments for why standardized testing can be negative. The research and arguments are helpful for parents of students and the teachers who administer the tests. Popham, James W. Why Standardized Tests Dont Measure Educational Quality: Whats in a Name? Educational Leadership. March 1999. Educational Leadership Web. February 2014. This magazine article gives three arguments that all support the idea that standardized tests should not be used to evaluate teachers performance. Popham argues that because every state, even every district, has different educational goals, and this causes problems with using tests to evaluate performance. This article also gives definitions of two different types of standardized tests, as well as a broad overview of how to interpret the standardized tests. This source will be helpful for parents of students and teachers.

Dreizin 4 Hancock, LynNell. Why are Finlands Schools Successful? Smithsonian Magazine. September 2011: 1-5. Web. 22 February 2014. This report by LynNell Hancock looks into why Finlands schools are so successful, as the title suggests. She went to public schools in Finland, one in a good area and one in what is considered a bad area. She spoke to the principals and teachers and found that the attitudes towards education are very different compared to the attitude of the United States. This article is great to try to explain where the United States public education system has gone wrong. I use it to compare and contrast the differences between Finland and the United States to explain that with a different cultural attitude and a respect for teaching and education, then the U.S. can vastly improve the system. Meador, Derrick. Standardized Testing: The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing. About.com: Teaching. Web. 27 February 2014. This article by Meador will be useful for my paper. It will be important for me to incorporate counter arguments, such as the pros of standardized testing. There are good things about testing, which is why they were adopted in the first place, but in order for my paper to work, I am going to take the pros about standardized testing and explain why they do not outweigh the cons. Ortega, Maria. Parental Income Linked to Students Standardized Test Results. Washington State University: Research News & Features. Web. 20 February 2014. Ortega writes about the findings of a study by Donald Orlich. His research shows that there are some factors other than teacher and classroom environment that go into a students standardized test score. Orlich found that parental income, race, and ability have plenty to do

Dreizin 5 with how well a student will do on any given test. I use this evidence to argue that standardized tests should not be used to rate district or teacher quality.