High-stakes, standardized tests have become the dominant tool for assessing student learning in the United States. While the scores of such tests have been used to identify gaps in the achievement of working-class, African American, and Latino students relative to more affluent and/or European American students, the increased use of high-stakes, standardized tests has had detrimental effects on diversity in education.

Defining High-Stakes, Standardized Testing

A standardized test is any test that is developed, delivered, and scored in a predetermined, standardized manner. There are two broad types of standardized tests used in education today: norm referenced and criterion referenced. A norm-referenced standardized test compares one student's test score to a whole group of other students, essentially comparing how one student scores relative to the average scores of ...

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