Dear Members of the Senate Education Committee, As a parent of three school-aged children (one of whom is currently in second grade), I believe that SB 169, the proposal to shift IREAD-3 to second grade, is grossly inappropriate and disregards the findings of a wide body of educational research related to developmentally appropriate practices, stress in children, and the effectiveness of retention. Placing the burden of taking a high-stakes reading test on seven-year-olds is simply developmentally inappropriate. High stakes tests confine and constrict the reading curriculum. The fact is, there is no research that links increased testing with increased reading achievement. Rather, high stakes tests are limited in their ability to describe students reading achievement and may be harmful to students self-esteem and motivation. (Afflerbach 2004) In addition, the high-stakes IREAD test increases stress in young children. Examining test anxiety on high-stakes standardized achievement testing and low-stakes testing among elementary school children, elementary students reported significantly more overall test anxiety in relation to high-stakes testing versus classroom testing. (Segool, et al 2013) Meanwhile, test-based retention increases the student likelihood of eventually dropping out of school. These unintended consequences that are most prevalent among ethnic minority and impoverished students. (Huddleston 2014) If you are truly concerned with early literacy or with the stress created by IREAD-3, here’s a better answer: eliminate IREAD altogether. Instead, I urge you to dedicate the money wasted on IREAD to support hiring full-time, certified school librarians in every Indiana public school. Librarians have a far better success rate at contributing to the success of student literacy than a high-stakes multiple choice test. (Mirah 2013) Sincerely, Deborah Myerson References: Afflerbach, P. (2004) High Stakes Testing and Reading Assessment. National Reading Conference Policy Brief. University of Maryland. literacyresearchassociation.org/publications/HighStakesTestingandReadingAssessment.pdf Huddleston, A. P. (2014). Achievement at whose expense? A literature review of test-based grade retention policies in U.S. school. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22 (18). dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v22n18.2014 Mirah, J. (2013) School libraries matter : views from the research. Santa Barbara, California : Libraries Unlimited. Segool, N. K., Carlson, J. S., Goforth, A. N., von der Embse, N. and Barterian, J. A. (2013), HEIGHTENED TEST ANXIETY AMONG YOUNG CHILDREN: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ANXIOUS RESPONSES TO HIGH-STAKES TESTING. Psychol. Schs., 50: 489–499. doi:10.1002/pits.21689
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 21:26:49 +0000
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