The Effects of High-stakes Educational Testing on Enrollments and Academic Achievement: Cross-national Evidence, 1961-2013

• In Event: 454 - Section on Sociology of Education Paper Session. International Perspectives on Education

Abstract

We use cross-national data to examine the effects of “high-stakes” educational testing on key educational outcomes: secondary and tertiary enrollments, and student achievement. We draw on cross-national educational handbooks, encyclopedias, and country reports to collect data on the frequency and timing of high-stakes tests (i.e., exams that limit advancement or shunt students into sharply differentiated vocational tracks) for a large sample of countries. Regression analyses over the period from 1961 to 2013 find that countries that employ high stakes tests in their educational systems tend to have lower secondary and tertiary enrollments in panel regression models; cross-sectional models in the mid-1990’s also find a positive and somewhat consistently significant effect of high stakes tests on student achievement as measured by cross-national standardized tests. Our findings indicate that high stakes tests may have benefits for student achievement, but also actively constrain the expansion of a nation’s education system. We consider implications for sociological theories of education and for educational policy.

Authors

• Jared Furuta, Stanford University

• Evan Schofer, University of California, Irvine

• Shawn Wick, Central College