What Do Third Graders Think About High-Stakes Testing and Mandatory Retention?

• In Event: 77.055 - Voices of Teachers and Students in Urban Settings

Abstract

This study is part of a phenomenological investigation to gain deeper understanding of the consequences of high-stakes testing and mandatory retention for learners and teaching practices at two demographically diverse Florida elementary schools. Third-graders students in nine classes wrote narratives the Friday prior to the state standardized test in an effort to examine students’ thoughts and feelings toward taking a high-stakes test. A “continuum of fear” was developed to aid the researcher in constructing meanings and categorizations of the varying levels of fear expressed in reference to the test and possible retention. Demographics based on gender, ethnicity, reading performance, and socio-economic status were included to determine any possible trends or relationships among the different groups of children.

Author

• Shelly L Counsell, University of Memphis