Inclusive Education
CORRELATING HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS AMONG
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH THEIR PERFORMANCE ON
A GOVERNMENT ASSESSMENT
by
Sean M. Lennon
Spring semester, 2004
In partial fulfillment for ORLD 611 Quantative Research
CHAPTER I
Introduction
Background Information
With enacting of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), states are now mandated in testing students enrolled in public schools. Data from testing must be published and schools are to be held accountable for continued failing marks (Goertz & Duffy, 2003). NCLB is a continuation of a trend widely accepted and advanced by a majority of states within the last few decades. In 1994 Congress enacted the Improving America’s Schools Act, later improved by the NCLB, initially mandating the testing of students. The movement of accountability and testing has continued to expand into other curriculums, grades, and subjects. It appears that testing, at least in the moderate future, is here to stay. The accountability of the testing is also expanding, incorporating students, teachers and school systems. High-stakes, usually referring to a single, or series of tests used to advance or graduate students, is also gaining in prominence. Students must illustrate proficiency of knowledge in the content area of the assessment and under new NCLB guidelines show improvement from year to year (Goertz & Duffy, 2003). Common in these assessments is proficiency in application, more recognized as ‘performance based skills’, where the subject taking the test must show ability to use pertinent knowledge to answer questions. This testing style is considered more applicable in assessing higher knowledge skills but more challenging to prepare for. The priority is magnified when the stakes are higher.
Need
Proficiency in taking performance based assessments can be a challenging task for an educator. The problem is twofold; first you must give the student the basic
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH THEIR PERFORMANCE ON
A GOVERNMENT ASSESSMENT
by
Sean M. Lennon
Spring semester, 2004
In partial fulfillment for ORLD 611 Quantative Research
CHAPTER I
Introduction
Background Information
With enacting of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), states are now mandated in testing students enrolled in public schools. Data from testing must be published and schools are to be held accountable for continued failing marks (Goertz & Duffy, 2003). NCLB is a continuation of a trend widely accepted and advanced by a majority of states within the last few decades. In 1994 Congress enacted the Improving America’s Schools Act, later improved by the NCLB, initially mandating the testing of students. The movement of accountability and testing has continued to expand into other curriculums, grades, and subjects. It appears that testing, at least in the moderate future, is here to stay. The accountability of the testing is also expanding, incorporating students, teachers and school systems. High-stakes, usually referring to a single, or series of tests used to advance or graduate students, is also gaining in prominence. Students must illustrate proficiency of knowledge in the content area of the assessment and under new NCLB guidelines show improvement from year to year (Goertz & Duffy, 2003). Common in these assessments is proficiency in application, more recognized as ‘performance based skills’, where the subject taking the test must show ability to use pertinent knowledge to answer questions. This testing style is considered more applicable in assessing higher knowledge skills but more challenging to prepare for. The priority is magnified when the stakes are higher.
Need
Proficiency in taking performance based assessments can be a challenging task for an educator. The problem is twofold; first you must give the student the basic
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