The New Accountability: High Schools and High-Stakes Testing

High schools are now the key institution in the schooling process. For low-income young people, these can be "make or break" years. Students who excel have the chance to continue on to elite universities, which increases their chances of future financial security. Educational reformers trying to increase and improve what high school students learn face stiff opposition from entrenched administration, swamped students, and teachers who have seen reforms come and go. The New Accountabilityexplores the current wave of school accountability reforms, wherein schools that perform poorly on standardized tests may face reorganization, a new principal, or even financial sanction. This important new study looks at the data behind "high-stakes testing" in Texas, New York, Kentucky and Vermont, and comes to some very important conclusions. It shifts the focus of the debate from how well high school graduates are prepared for college or work to the larger question of how many students are graduating in thefirst place, and how these stringent testing measures may affect those students on the edge.