Skip to main content

Promoting Quality through Assessment?

Standardised Testing and Indigenous Schools in Canada and the United States

  • Chapter
Qualities of Education in a Globalised World

Part of the book series: The World Council of Comparative Education Societies ((CIEDV))

  • 776 Accesses

Abstract

In response to concerns about declining educational quality and the need to compete in the global economic arena, many countries have turned to standardised testing to lead education reform efforts. The rationale is that standardised testing can improve student learning by providing data that can be used to measure student performance, hold schools and districts accountable for results, and inform education policy and programming (NCLB Act, 2001; Phelps, 2005; Popham et al., 1985).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Alaska Native Knowledge Network. (1998). Alaska standards for culturally responsive schools. Anchorage, Alaska Native Knowledge Network.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altshuler, S. J., & Schmautz, T. (2006). “No hispanic student left behind: The consequences of “High Stakes” testing.” Children and Schools. 28 (1), 5–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Apple, M. W. (2006). Education the “Right Way”: Markets, standards, god and inequality. (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Assembly of First Nations. (2006). Securing our future: First nations Agenda for the 2007 federal budget. A submission to the house of commons standing committee on finance. Ottawa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Assembly of First Nations. (2010). First nations control of first nations education: It’s our vision, it’s our time. Ottawa: Assembly of First Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Assembly of First Nations. (2012). First nations lifelong learning assessment approach. Ottawa: Assembly of First Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aud, S., KewalRamani, A., & Frohlich, L. (2011). America’s youth: Transitions to adulthood (NCES 2012–026). United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aydeniz, M., & Southerland, S. A. (2012). “A national survey of middle and high school science teachers’ Responses to Standardized Testing: Is Science Being Devalued in Schools?” Journal of Science Teacher Education. 23(3): 233–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battiste, M. (2002). Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy in first nations education: A literature review with recommendations. Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaulieu, D., Sparks, L., & Alonzo, M. (2005). preliminary report on no child left behind in Indian country. Washington, DC: National Indian Education Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, D., Anderson, K., Fortin, T., Ottoman, J., Rose, S., Simard, L., & Spencer, K. (2004). Sharing our success: Ten case studies in aboriginal schooling. Kelowna: Society for the advancement of excellence in education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berliner, D. C., & Biddle, B. J. (1995). The manufactured crisis: Myths, fraud, and the attack on America public schools. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binda, K. P., & Lall, M. (2013). Decolonizing indigenous education in Canada. In D. B. Napier & S. Majhanovich (Eds), Education, Dominance and Identity (pp. 11–27). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, J. H. (1995). The impact of curriculum-based external examinations on school priorities and student learning. International Journal of Education Research, 23 (8), 653–752.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bordeaux, R. (1995). Assessment for American Indian and Alaska native learners. Charleston, WV: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brescia, W., & Fortune, J. C. (1988). Standardized testing of American Indian students. Las Cruces, NM: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buly, M. R., & Valencia, S. W. (2002). Below the bar: Profiles of students who fail state reading assessments. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. 24 (3), 219–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bureau of Indian Affairs. (2005). Bureau-Wide Annual Report Card, 2003–2004. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Office of Indian Education Programs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bureau of Indian Education. (2012a). Bureau-Wide Annual Report Card, 2010–2011. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Office of Indian Education Programs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bureau of Indian Education. (2012b). School Report Cards, SY 2010 – 2011. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Office of Indian Education Programs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bureau of Indian Education. (2012c). ESEA flexibility request. Retrieved March 11, 2013, from http://www.bie.edu/cs/groups/xbie/documents/text/idc-018498.pdf.

  • Campbell, C. & Levin, B. (2009). Using data to support educational improvement. Educational Assessment and Evaluation and Accountability. 21: 47–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canadian Teachers Federation. (2003a). Assessment and evaluation: National testing. www.ctf-fce.ca/e/assessment/testing-main.htm.

  • Canadian Teachers Federation. (2003b). Assessment and evaluation: National testing. www.ctf-fce.ca/e/assessment/high-stakes.htm.

  • Carr-Stewart, Sheila. (2001). A treaty right to education. Canadian Journal of Education. 26 (2), 125–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castagno, A. E., & Brayboy, B. M. J. (2008). Culturally responsive schooling for indigenous youth: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research. 78 (4), 941–993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cizek, G. J. (2001). More unintended consequences of high-stakes testing. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practices. 20 (4), 19–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deyhle, D. (1986). Success and failure: A micro-ethnographic comparison of navajo and anglo students’ perceptions of testing. Curriculum Inquiry. 16 (4), 365–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Earl, L., & Katz, S. (2006). Leading in a data rich world: Harnessing data for school improvement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • FairTest. (1995). Implementing performance assessments: A guide to classroom, school and system reform. Cambridge, MA: National Center for Fair and Open Testing.

    Google Scholar 

  • First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC). (2012). First nations regional health survey (RHS) 2008/10: National report on adults, youth and children living in First Nations communities. Ottawa: FNIGC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forbes, J. D. (2000). The new assimilation movement: Standards, tests, and Anglo-American Supremacy. Journal of American Indian Education. 39 (2), 7– 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, S. J. (2001). American Indian/Alaska Native Education and Standards-Based Reform. ERIC Digest. Charleston, WV. ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 459 039.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, S., & LaFontaine, V. (1995). A Whole Language Approach to the [sic] Communication Skills. In H. Gilliland. (Ed.), Teaching the Native American. Dubugue, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser Institute. (2013). Compare School Rankings. Retrieved April 15, 2013 from http://www.compareschoolrankings.org/.

    Google Scholar 

  • Froese-Germain, B. (1999). Standardized testing: Undermining equity in education. Ottawa: Canadian Teachers Federation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia, D. R. (2008). Mixed messages: American Indian achievement before and since the implementation of no child left behind. Journal of American Indian Education. 47 (1), 136–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginicola, M. M., & Saccoccio, C. (2008). Good intentions, unintended consequences: The impact of NCLB on our nation’s children. Report on Emotional & Behavioral Disorders in Youth. 8, 27–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goals 2000: Educate America Act. (1994). Pub. L. No. 103–227. 103rd Cong., 2nd sess.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goddard, J. T. (2002). Ethnoculturally relevant programming in northern schools. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 26 (2), 124–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, C., & Neu, G. (2004). Standardized testing and the construction of governable persons. Curriculum Studies, 36 (3), 295–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, R. L. & Griffore, R. J. (1980). The impact of standardized testing on minority students. The Journal of Negro Education. 49 (3), 238–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, K. T., & Wigfield, A. (1984). Test anxiety: A major educational problem and what can be done about it. The Elementary School Journal, 85 (1), 105–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Improving America's Schools Act. (1994). Pub. L. No. 103–382, 108. 103rd Cong., 2nd sess.

    Google Scholar 

  • Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). (2008). First Nation Student Success Program Guidelines. Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, D. (2008). School grades: Identifying British columbia’s best schools. Toronto: C.D. Howe Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, M. G., Jones, B. D., Hardin, B., Chapman, L., Yarbrough, T., & Davis, M. (1999). The Impact of High–Stakes Testing on Teachers and Students in North Carolina. Phi Delta Kappan, 81 (3), 199–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, A. (2000). The case against standardized testing: Raising the scores, ruining the schools. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipman, P. (2006). The politics of education accountability in a post-9/11 world. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 6 (1), 52–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks, A. K., & Garcı´a Coll, C. (2007). Psychological and demographic correlates of early academic skill development among American Indian and Alaska native youth: A growth modeling study. Developmental Psychology, 43 (3), 663–674.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarty, T. L. (2009). The impact of high-stakes accountability policies on native American Learners: Evidence from research. Teaching Education, 20 (1), 7–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNeil, L. (2000). Contradictions of school reform: Educational costs of standardized testing. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehrens, W. A., & Kaminski, J. (1989). Methods for improving standardized test scores: Fruitful, fruitless, or fraudulent? Educational measurement: Issues and practices, 8 (1), 14–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendelson, M. (2006). Aboriginal peoples and postsecondary education in Canada. Ottawa: Caledon Institute of Social Policy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulvenon, S. W., Stegman, C. E., & Ritter, G. (2005). Test anxiety: A multifaceted study on the perceptions of teachers, principals, counselors, students, and parent. International Journal of Testing, 5 (1), 37–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Centre for Education Statistics (NCES). (2012). The National Indian education study: 2011. NCES 2012466. Alexandria, VA: NCES.

    Google Scholar 

  • Natriello, G., & Dornbusch, S. M. (1984). teacher evaluative standards and student effort. New York: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Navaho Nation. (2013). Navajo nation department of diné education. Retrieved April 15, 2013, from http://www.navajonationdode.org/

    Google Scholar 

  • Neil, M. (2003). High stakes, high risk: The dangerous consequences of high-stakes testing. American School Board Journal, 190 (2), 18–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nieto, S. (2009). From surviving to thriving. Educational Leadership, 66 (5), 8–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107–110, 115 Stat. 1425 (2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • Northern Aboriginal Education Circle. (2003). Retrieved January 24, 2010, from http://naec.7generations.org/index.html.

  • O’Connor, M. C. (1989). Aspects of differential performance by minorities on standardized tests: Linguistic and sociocultural factors. In B. R. Gifford (Ed), Test Policy and Test Performance: Education, Language, and Culture (pp. 130–181). Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patrick, R. (2008). Perspectives on change: A continued struggle for academic success and cultural relevancy at an American Indian school in the midst of no child left behind. Journal of American Indian Education, 47 (1), 65–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pewewardy, C. (2002). Learning styles of American Indian / Alaska Native Students: A review of the literature and implications for practice. Journal of American Indian Education. 41(3), 22–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phelps, R. P. (2009). Educational achievement testing: Critiques and rebuttals. In R. Phepls (Ed.), Correcting Fallacies about Educational and Psychological Testing (pp. 89–146). Washington: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Phelps, R. P. (Ed.). (2005). Defending standardized testing. Mahwah, N.J: L. Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popham, J. W. (2001). Teaching to the test? Educational Leadership, 58 (6), 16–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popham, J. W., Cruse, K. L., Rankin, S. C., Sandifer, P. D., & Wiliams, P. L. (1985). Measurement-driven instruction: It's on the road. Phi Delta Kappan. 66 (9), 628–634.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reay, D., & Wiliams, D. (1999). I’ll be a nothing’: Structure, agency and the construction of identity through assessment. British Educational Research Journal, 25(3), 343–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reyhner, J., & Eder, J. (2005). American Indian education: A history. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roderick, M. & Engel, M. (2001). The grasshopper and the ant: Motivational responses of low-achieving students to high-stakes testing. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23(3), 197–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romero-Little, M. E., McCarty, T. L. Warhol, L., & Zepeda, O. (2007). Language policies in practice: Preliminary findings from a large-scale study of native American language shift. TESOL Quarterly, 41 (3), 607–618.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudman, H. D. (1987). Classroom instruction and tests: What do we really know about the link? NASSP Bulletin. 71, 3–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sacks, P. (1999). Standardized minds: The high price of America’s testing culture and what we can do to change it. New York: Da Capo Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Santoro, D. A. (2011). Teaching’s conscientious objectors: Principled leavers of high-poverty schools. Teachers College Record, 113 (12), 2670–2704.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shepard, L. A., & Dougherty, K. C. (1991). Effects of high-stakes testing on instruction. Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American educational research association and the national council on measurement in education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 337 468).

    Google Scholar 

  • Shields, C. M. (1997). Learning about assessment from native American schools: Advocacy and empowerment. Theory into Practice. 36, Spring. 102–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Standing Senate Committe on Aboriginal Peoples. (2011). Reforming first nations education: From crisis to hope. Ottawa: Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiggins, R. J. (1999). Assessment, student confidence, and school success. Phi Delta Kappan, 81 (3), 191–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tremblay, S, Ross, N., & Berthelot, J. (2001). Factors affecting grade 3 student performance in ontario: a multilevel analysis. Education Quarterly Review, 7 (4), 25–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Triplett, C. F., & Barksdale, M. A. (2005). Third through sixth graders’ perceptions of high-stakes testing. Journal of Literacy Research, 37 (2), 237–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ungerleider, C. (2006). Reflections on the use of large-scale student assessment for improving student success. Canadian Journal of Education. 29 (3), 873–883.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United States Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Indian Education, White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities. 2011. Tribal Leaders Speak: The State of American Indian Education, 2010; Report of the Consultations With Tribal Leaders in Indian Country. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Department of Education. (2012). ESEA Flexibility. Washington: United States Department of Education. Retrieved March 11, 2013, from http://www.ed.gov/esea/flexibility/documents/eseaflexibility-acc.doc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valli, L., & Buese, D. (2007). The changing roles of teachers in an era of high-stakes accountability. American Educational Research Journal, 44 (3), 519–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, J. P., Peters, J., & Beavon, D. (2009). Enhancing educational attainment for first nations children. In J. P. White, J. Peters, D. Beavon, & N. Spence (Eds.), Aboriginal Education: Current Crisis and Future Alternatives (pp. 117–174). Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wideman, R. (2002). Using action research and provincial test results to improve student learning. International Electronic Journal For Leadership in Learning. 6 (20).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, W. E. (2002). The effects of high stakes testing in an inner-city elementary school: The curriculum, the teachers, and the english language learners. Current Issues in Education. 5 (5).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Sense Publishers

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Peters, J. (2014). Promoting Quality through Assessment?. In: Napier, D.B. (eds) Qualities of Education in a Globalised World. The World Council of Comparative Education Societies. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-650-9_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics