Jasmine Lomas

English 102D
Salyers
23 Sep. 2014
Annotated Bibliography
Education Insights, "Reality Check 2006 Issue No. 3: Is Support for Standards and Testing
Fading? 2006.
This article is a part of a series of articles on the reality of standardized testing. It claims
that the general opinion of standardized testing in schools of parents, teachers and students is
negative. Over the years the reputation of testing has decreased and they have become a hot topic
for debate. The article, however, does state that the response to tests is not a result of the number
of tests a student is required to take in a year or the efforts schools are making to pass all
students. The article claims that parents are not opposed to the No Child Left Behind initiative,
and that they think the standards could be useful if they were improved. The main concern of
parents and students seems to be that the information that they are tested on is not relevant or
useful after they graduate school. The article gives good information and statistics about public
opinion but it does not clearly take a side in the argument. If it took a definite side in the
argument it would be more effective in making a point for or against standardized testing.

Elford, George W. Beyond Standardized Testing : Better Information For School Accountability
And Management / George W. Elford. n.p.: Lanham, Md. Scarecrow Press,
2002. GWU Library Online Catalog. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.
The book Beyond Standardized Testing, was an in depth discussion of the positive and
negative aspects of standardized testing. It addresses the original intentions of standardized tests


and how school systems have strayed from them. Teachers are now focusing strictly on prepping
students for a single exam rather than teaching them the required curriculum. Multiple choice
portions of exams are considered external standardized tests that are not accurate
measurements of a students knowledge. The book offers methods to improve the reliability of
standardized tests, as well as the option to simply lower the importance of mandatory exams in
school systems. This resource brought a new aspect of the argument, which was the accuracy of
multiple choice questions on exams. It is a credible source for an essay on standardized testing
because it did talk about both sides of the argument and it had sections that were written in favor
of standardized tests to balance the debate. The book did need to elaborate on testing in schools
specifically so that there would be concrete examples available for reference.
OBrien, Jason, Russell Winn, and Kirsten Currier. "Not All Tests Are Created Equal: Parental
Rights And Standardized Tests." Journal Of Cases In Educational Leadership 17.2
(2014): 41-48. Educational Administration Abstracts. Web. 24 Sept. 2014.
This article is about the use of standardized testing in schools across the country. It
discusses the case of one student in elementary school in which a parent decided to argue the
school systems right to test students. A parent in Alabama argued that his child was being tested
too much throughout the school year and that their education was being jeopardized. He took the
case to the countys superintendent and finally got his way. His daughter was exempted from the
quarterly examinations because it was clear that she already knew the material. This case proves
that standardized tests take away from the focus of education. The article was informative and
useful as a real life basis for the argument. It was not extremely helpful because it only talked
about that specific case and not the argument as a whole.


Ornstein, Allan. "Achievement Gaps in Education." Society Sept. 2010: 424+. Educational
Administration Abstracts. Web. 24 Sept. 2014.
The article gives a good analysis of standardized testing gaps across the world. It
discusses how the United States has fallen behind as far as education goes, when compared to
eastern countries. The education differences in America are much wider than they are in the east
because there are so many different standards and requirements across the country. The
differences in America are contributed to the variation of home environments and social factors.
In eastern countries the environments are more similar across the nation. Therefore, the
standardized tests are more reliable and uniform. Testing can be used in some areas, but it is too
broad of an educational measurement for the United States. The article was helpful in comparing
the methods of American standardized tests versus the methods of administration in other
countries. The discussion of other countries offered new reasons as to why testing is not right for
American students.
Olson, Lynn. "Study Questions Reliability Of Single-Year Test-Score Gains." Education Week
20.37 (2001): 9. Master FILE Complete. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.
This article is about the reliability of standardized testing in schools across the country. It
begins by stating all of the extraneous factors that could affect a childs test scores, such as
outside noises during the test. The issue of school population is also addressed in the article,
which is a major topic of concern for teachers. They are worried that test makers only look at the
scores of wealthy, good schools and ignore the schools that are not well funded when they are
looking at test results. Recent studies have shown that standardized testing is not useful and that
the results are not reliable indicators of a students knowledge. This article is a good source of
information on the faults of standardized testing. It provides examples from an actual study that


was done, so the information is accurate and trustworthy. However, it does not address both sides
of the argument. It focuses on the negative side of testing and does not talk about how testing can
be useful to an extent in schools.

Schaeffer, Bob. "Resistance to High Stakes Testing Spreads." District Administration Magazine.
District Administration, Sept. 2012. Web. 14 Sept. 2014.
The article Resistance to High Stakes Testing Spreads, is an overview of public opinion
and legislation about standardized testing in schools. It discusses how parents, teachers and
administrators feel about the use of standardized testing and what steps have been taken to fight
the administration of these tests. A major concern of the teachers and parents is that the school
system is focusing too much on preparing students to take a single test, than learning the
material. The criticism that tests are receiving involves the importance of test scores, the errors in
test administration and the failure of recent test reform efforts. This article offered a lot of
information about what has been done across the United States over the past few years along
with what is going to be happening soon. It does a very good job of giving examples of how
certain states have made progress in the reform process, however it narrows the discussion to a
few select states. It does not give examples that are broad and it focuses on those three states
more than others.