ABSTRACT
High-stakes tests are those that have serious consequences attached to them. We talk of the stakes being high for a test when test scores are highly consequential, such as when children can be retained in grade, or prevented from getting a high school degree because they scored poorly on a test. Stakes are also high when low test scores result in teachers and administrators being humiliated in the press, or when they can be fired or reassigned, or when schools can be closed because of the scores. Stakes are also high when teachers and administrators are promised bonuses if their students’ test scores are rising or exceed a certain level of performance. The increased use of highstakes tests to improve America’s schools is a relatively new strategy in the ongoing effort to improve school achievement for the nation’s lowest income students and its students of color.
