Why Has High-Stakes Testing So Easily Slipped into Contemporary American Life?
The article refers to high-stakes testing, which pins significant consequences to standardized test scores and is associated with the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act. The authors’ refer to their book “Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America’s Schools” and the “Donald Campbell law” that predicts the corruption of social processes. The discussion topics include: corruption in the business world when there are high-stake standards; the reasons why high-stake testing became part of American culture such as models of accountability, changing demographics, the power elite, and the belief that highly educated workers will be needed in the future economy; and the influence of sports in the high-stakes rationale.
