Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America's Schools

by Sharon L. Nichols, David C. Berliner, Nel Noddings (Foreword)

Drawing on their extensive research, Nichols and Berliner document and categorize the ways that high-stakes testing threatens the purposes and ideals of the American education system.

For more than a decade, the debate over high-stakes testing has dominated the field of education. This passionate and provocative book provides a fresh perspective on the issue and powerful ammunition for opponents of high-stakes tests.

Their analysis is grounded in the application of Campbell’s Law, which posits that the greater the social consequences associated with a quantitative indicator (such as test scores), the more likely it is that the indicator itself will become corrupted—and the more likely it is that the use of the indicator will corrupt the social processes it was intended to monitor.

Nichols and Berliner illustrate both aspects of this “corruption,” showing how the pressures of high-stakes testing erode the validity of test scores and distort the integrity of the education system. Their analysis provides a coherent and comprehensive intellectual framework for the wide-ranging arguments against high-stakes testing, while putting a compelling human face on the data marshalled in support of those arguments.

Genres: Education

234 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not an educator, but I am a parent and a daughter of a life long educator. As my children grew older and the standardized testing in Pennsylvania became more prevalent, I wanted to learn more. This is a very informative book and is useful for developing an informed opinion about testing. This book, along with counsel from trusted friends and educators led us to remove our children from high stakes testing in the elementary school. We are on the other side of that decision and I can say with 100% confidence it was the right choice and our children are not hampered in their testing ability nor their academic prowess. And I feel good about standing up to a system that preys on people of color, persons of low socioeconomic status and does nothing but harm our students and inappropriately transform the education system into the monster it is today. Standardized testing is not bad- actually very helpful for offering data to guide the education plan. High stakes testing is different entirely and along with being a hotbed of corruption, it takes the most valuable element of education- a teacher customizing an education plan for the children in his/her current classroom and makes our system a one-size-fits-all model with one goal: cram as much as you can into their heads before the exams in the Spring. Not helpful and proven time and again to be a flawed education model.

[Maggie Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collateral Damage takes a stand on high-stakes testing in America's schools. Nichols and Berliner wrote a book filled with examples of how high-stakes testing is hurting our students rather than helping. They exposed the corruption on all levels; cheating is evident from the classroom to the school board. Nichols and Berliner drilled one point into every chapter of their book: high-stakes testing has made worse everything that it set out to fix. I am impressed with their ability to keep this theme alive without their book and all of the research they gathered to make an argument in Collateral Damage.

[Renate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must for anyone involved in the educational process. The authors demonstrate how the testing has hijacked the system.

[Budd Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

High Stakes Testing monopoly & obsession and it's affects on child development