Measuring Failure: School, Standardized Tests, and Students' Well-Being

• In Event: Assessment Policy and Practice: Examining the (Unintended) Consequences

Abstract

This case study highlights the understandings and experiences of four students, and their families, as they navigate the uncharted terrain of standardized testing. Applying the lenses of critical policy scholarship, social class and reproduction, in this research the lived experiences of families are picked apart to better understand how educational polices impact families and students’ home lives. The students in the paper have all been labeled as failing by their schools, and they are frustrated and angry with standardized exams that they can’t read and further propel them into classroom isolation. The students’ parents are frustrated with an educational system that has left their child behind and several have deployed various means of capital to mitigate the consequences of testing.

Author

• Stephanie Shedrow, University of Wisconsin