High-Stakes Testing
High-stakes testing is a term generally used to define tests that have a major impact on a student's academic progress (determining passage to the next grade level or progression in a specific subject as well as standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, etc.) Since the enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), high-stakes, standardized testing have become a significant focus for students, educators and parents. On this page, you will find expert information on the implications of high-stakes testing for students with learning disabilities, resources for dealing with test stress, test-taking strategies and supports, and much more.
Introduction and Background Information
Policy and Advocacy
Additional Resources on the Web
 Introduction and Background Information:
Thirteen Core Principles to Ensure Fair Treatment of All Students, Including Those with Learning Disabilities, with Regard to High Stakes Assessments, 2001
Adapted from the "Do No Harm" report created by Disability Rights Advocates in 2001.
Implications of High-Stakes Testing for Students with Learning Disabilities
In this reprinted article from Schwablearning.org, parent advocacy expert Candace Cortiella explores just what high-stakes testing means for you and your child.
LD Chat: High-Stakes Testing and its impact on Students with LD
Featured expert Paul O'Neill, Esq. discusses issues related to high stakes testing and students with LD in this December 8, 2004 LD Talk.
The Sat: Where it’s At
Paula Kuebler, the Executive Director of the College Board's Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), answers questions on the College Board's policies and practices regarding accommodations for students with disabilities who wish to take the SAT I and II, PSAT/NMSQT, and Advanced Placement (AP) tests.
 No Child Left Behind: Determining Appropriate Assessment Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
An overview of appropriate accommodations for students with IEPs or 504 Plans that serves as a guide to choosing accommodations and suggests questions to ask when making appropriate accommodation decisions.
 Understanding Assessment Options for IDEA-eligible Students
Provides an overview of students with IEPs participation in statewide tests required by NCLB, helps guide parents through IEP team assessments decisions, and offers questions to ask about the testing options.
Policy and Advocacy
Policy Brief: High Stakes Assessments and Students with LD
This document lists policy recommendations for assessment systems that ensure nondiscrimination and high participation for all students.
The Trouble with High Stakes Testing
Sid Wolinsky, founder and director of litigation for Disability Rights Advocates, discusses the problems that high stakes testing presents for students with learning disabilities in the November 2004 issue of LD News. Click here for the LD News archive.
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Additional Resources on the Web
Toughening Up for Tests
This January 10, 2006 New York Times article shows how the Test Monster, an art project designed to exorcise fears of standardized tests, is helping students cope with the testing regimen now required to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Do No Harm: High Stakes Testing and Students with Learning Disabilities
This expert report from Disability Rights Advocates focuses on the needs and rights of students with learning disabilities with regard to high-stakes standardized tests and how the design of many standardized tests discriminate against students with those disabilities.
Online Test Prep Services Receive Mixed Reviews
Consumer Reports' evaluation of ten online test-prep services that claim to help students prepare for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Results indicate that the quality of these online services varied widely and were not related to costs.
The National Center for Fair and Open Testing
FairTest works to ensure that evaluation of students, teachers and schools is fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial.
UCLA National Center for Research on Education Standards & Student Testing
CRESST
Understanding Tests and Measurements for the Parent and Advocate
Wrightslaw
Assessment and Achievement
eSchool News
A variety of news and information as well as outside resources to help put assessment in clearer perspective and to tie it more closely to its primary purpose"namely, better test scores through improved instruction.
Reading Between the Lines: What the ACT Reveals about College Readiness in Reading
ACT
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