- Professional Development
- School Improvement
- Tech Tools
- Books
- Resources
Dylan Wiliam: High-Stakes K12 Testing
Article originally published in District Administration
By Shawna De La Rosa
Testing impacts learners and schools in the U.S. differently than it impacts those in many other nations
In most of the developed world, high-stakes tests make or break a student’s future, sometimes before the age of 12.
Many countries use national benchmarks to assess students, and construct tests to gauge understanding of the core curriculum.
This was an original goal of the Common Core, but in the U.S., standardized tests have become more about ranking schools and even teachers.
“In most other countries, everything the kids do leads up to testing at the end of the year in June,” says Dylan Wiliam, emeritus professor of educational assessment at University College London. “In many cases, those tests are used to determine a student’s future.”