High Stakes: Children, Testing, and Failure in American Schools
What is the effect on students and teachers of high-stakes testing and the current emphasis on accountability? To answer that question, Dale D. Johnson (Vocabulary in the Elementary & Middle School) and Bonnie Johnson (Wordworks: Exploring Language Play) offer a critical, passionate, firsthand account of the 2000-01 school year in a Redbud, LA, elementary school, where teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation and 98 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch. Under Louisiana's accountability bureaucracy, the school is regulated, monitored, assessed, and labeled. The authors challenge the effectiveness of using standardized tests to make decisions in a school that lacks basic amenities and suffers from excessive student and teacher stress. They provide numerous examples, clear descriptions, and a deep appreciation for the role of teachers to illustrate the dire consequences of this emphasis on testing. The closing chapter offers recommendations for concerned professionals, policymakers, and parents. Education collections in both public and academic libraries would be strengthened by the addition of this clear, research-based discussion. Leroy Hommerding, Fort Myers Beach P.L. Dist., FLCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.