
Collateral Damage
How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America's Schools
Harvard Educational Publishing Group
Published on 30. March 2007
Book
Hardback
252 pages
978-1-891792-36-6 (ISBN)
Description
Drawing on their extensive research, Nichols and Berliner document and categorize the ways that high-stakes testing threatens the purposes and ideals of the American education system.
For more than a decade, the debate over high-stakes testing has dominated the field of education. This passionate and provocative book provides a fresh perspective on the issue and powerful ammunition for opponents of high-stakes tests.
Their analysis is grounded in the application of Campbell's Law, which posits that the greater the social consequences associated with a quantitative indicator (such as test scores), the more likely it is that the indicator itself will become corrupted - and the more likely it is that the use of the indicator will corrupt the social processes it was intended to monitor.
Nichols and Berliner illustrate both aspects of this ""corruption"", showing how the pressures of high-stakes testing erode the validity of test scores and distort the integrity of the education system. Their analysis provides a coherent and comprehensive intellectual framework for the wide-ranging arguments against high-stakes testing, while putting a compelling human face on the data marshalled in support of those arguments.
For more than a decade, the debate over high-stakes testing has dominated the field of education. This passionate and provocative book provides a fresh perspective on the issue and powerful ammunition for opponents of high-stakes tests.
Their analysis is grounded in the application of Campbell's Law, which posits that the greater the social consequences associated with a quantitative indicator (such as test scores), the more likely it is that the indicator itself will become corrupted - and the more likely it is that the use of the indicator will corrupt the social processes it was intended to monitor.
Nichols and Berliner illustrate both aspects of this ""corruption"", showing how the pressures of high-stakes testing erode the validity of test scores and distort the integrity of the education system. Their analysis provides a coherent and comprehensive intellectual framework for the wide-ranging arguments against high-stakes testing, while putting a compelling human face on the data marshalled in support of those arguments.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
333 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-891792-36-6 (9781891792366)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Sharon L. Nichols is assistant professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, USA.
David C. Berliner is the Regents' Professor of Education at Arizona State University in Tempe, USA. He is past president of the American Educational Research Association and a member of the National Academy of Education.
David C. Berliner is the Regents' Professor of Education at Arizona State University in Tempe, USA. He is past president of the American Educational Research Association and a member of the National Academy of Education.