Dropping Out or Pushed Out: The Impact of High School Dropout Rate Relative To High Stakes Testing Policy In The State Of Michigan
Introduction
The demand for advanced standards as well as better accountability within the US educational system has caused a nationwide raise in high stakes testing. To answer this increasing demand, in the year 2002, the act ‘No Child Left Behind’ was introduced to assure that all school children in US will get the chance as well as the resources to attain educational achievement. This act made state educational accomplishment standards and state evaluations mandatory (Cavendish, 2013). It also requires states to fulfill the requirement of satisfactory annual improvement to ascertain school’s responsibility towards student achievement in such tests (Nichols et al, 2012). Accountability comes in the shape of state wide tests, which turn into high stakes testing as students have to clear them if they want to be promoted to the next grade as well as to clear the high school.
Background
Latest modifications in the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ incorporate flexibility in following federal instructions Every state in US is required to carry out test students on yearly basis in reading as well as in mathematics from third to eighth grade at least one time during their high school years (Glennie et al, 2012). Research indicates that a considerable number of teachers do not approve high stakes tests. According to Dutro & Selland (2012), educators think there is a huge amount of tests, and the results are not of significant help to teachers and are often misinterpreted by parents. Regardless of this, the high stakes linked to standardized testing compel educators to modify their teaching approach in order to enhance students’ test scores (Hemelt & Marcotte, 2013).
There is substantial verification according to which there may be an increased number of dropouts and decreased level of graduating students who have to sit for high stakes tests in order to be promoted (Segool, 2013; Thompson & Allen, 2012; Yi et al, 2012). The apparent reasons for this increase in dropout rates not only include anxiety linked with the test, but also the teachers asking the students with higher possibility of failing not to sit for the test. Here, the issue arises whether or not high stakes testing influences the dropout rate for high school students to increase (Dee et al, 2011).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to look at the issues related to high stakes testing and find out if it can be predicted that high stakes testing raises the rate of students who dropped out from high schools. According to the research carried out by Rumberger & Palardy in 2005, majority of the work done regarding the influence of high stakes testing on high school dropout is somewhat limited to handling these tests as a negative factor which compels the students each year to leave studies. They highlight the need of the research that can stay unbiased, and clearly as well as honestly shows the dropout rate before and after the introduction of high stakes testing. This study will also offer a considerable base line for upcoming research work that could compare the Michigan proficiency test with a state that utilizes the similar test as a graduation prerequisite.
Moreover, this study will also very briefly touch the other factors that may influence high stakes test scores but often overlooked, such as financial condition of students and also of their respective educational institutions. It is essential to know the way social and economic aspects could influence testing due to the high stakes dependent on these scores.
Research Question and Hypothesis
R1: Does high stakes testing policy affects the dropout rate of high school students in Michigan?
HA: High stakes testing increases the dropout rates among high school students.
H0: There is no substantial effect of high stakes testing on dropout rates among high school students.
Significance of the Study
Since the introduction of ‘No Child Left Behind Act’, the statewide testing procedure has been highlighted greatly as a way of ascertaining the educational accomplishment status. The inclusion of standardized tests to take high stakes decisions to find out whether a student is “promoted or retained” (Au, 2014) is somewhat alarming because minorities, and some other sets of students, are already have comparatively higher failure ratio.
Literature Review
As a result of high stakes testing, students are mostly retained by their teachers. Studies reveal that students who are retained do not improve when they repeat the same grade and may perform worse; hence, this retention is likely to increase the chances of dropping out of high schools (Holme et al, 2010; Ou, 2010; Schmitt et al, 2013). Anxiety, apprehension, dullness and panic are all factors in the student dropout level accredited to high stakes testing.
A new study by Hursh (2013) revealed that those states that implemented high stakes testing approach had increased rate of dropouts and decreased rate of students graduating. A 2012 study by Nichols, Glass, & Berliner declares that states that make it obligatory for high school students to clear the exit exam for graduation, had lesser scores on the SAT, as well as decreased graduation rates, in comparison with states without those necessities.
Mo (2013) emphasizes that standardized tests form a structure that is unjust as well as negative for education. According to Mo, the stress on strict principles and accountability is extremely damaging for minority students as well as for those who are from low income group. There have been accusations that educational institutions are expelling students who have higher chanced to fail in high stakes tests (Emmett & McGee, 2013; Holme et al, 2013 Hughes et al, 2010), and in a number of institutions, teachers are forbidding such students to take the tests (Koch & DeLuca, 2012; Kraft et al, 2012; Uccelli, Dobbs & Scott 2013). Educational institutions are likely to stop the students who they think cannot clear the exams for the purpose of increasing the number of successful students. Facts reveal that such act of forbidding the students for appearing in the tests raises the possibility of dropping out.
Another research by Lievens, Buyse, Sackett, & Connelly (2012) reveals that high takes testing is similar to increase dropout rates and reduce graduation levels in high schools. The literature indicates that the negative outcomes of high stakes testing are a mixture of teachers’ stress of retaining the students and students’ inability to completely comprehend its purpose. Cutting down the curriculum can reduce the level of students’ interest in studies. Stress of high stakes testing cause tension and nervousness among the students, leading to a high number of dropouts.
Near the start of 1990s, a nationwide educational idea of 100 percent graduation rate was decided. In reference the studies by Amrein-Beardsley et al (2010), Dee et al (2011), Lee et al (2011), the graduations rates have been showing a steady drop on yearly basis. They further indicated that in the year 2009-2010, the rate of high school graduates was lower than 80 percent. Throughout the year 1998-1999, Michigan upheld an 85 percent rate of dropouts. Following these statistics, during the time frame of five years, Michigan has never gone beyond the 78 percent range and the academic year 2009-2010 depicts an 82 percent graduation rate (Dulfer, 2012). Rates of graduation have dropped in some states, for example, Alabama, where graduation rate dropped to 64 percent from 73 percent during five year time frame (Baker, 2012; Figlio & Loeb, 2011; Heilig, 2011). In evaluating the figures, more or less all fifty states are in the similar percentage range during the five-year study, with a few merely demonstrating insignificant enhancement. Various states declare graduation rates as high as 85 percent; whereas a few have rates as small as 50 percent. Rates for high school graduation for minority students are a lot more smaller even in “high-performing states” (Patterson et al, 2012). According to the research by Wood et al, (2014), the country’s graduation rate has gone significantly down from the year 1985 and has dropped all the more from 1990s, when the majority of states started adopting high stakes testing as a prerequisite for graduation. Studies revealed that several students are dropping out in the beginning of their high school years as compared to the end years.
According to Baker, Oluwole & Green (2013) high stakes testing influences both students as well as educators. Michigan is among many states that make it mandatory for students to appear in and clear a series of tests ahead of attaining a high school diploma. The state as well wants students to undertake various tests earlier than promoting to the next grade. One countrywide research revealed that students in the “bottom fifth of their grade” (Levitt et al, 2012) at schools in states that have high stakes tests were 30 percent more likely to drop out of high school as compared to those students who did not have appear in high stakes tests. In addition, states that stop the students from promoting to the next grade according to the results of such tests mostly have a higher dropout rate (Domina & Saldana, 2012; Sadovnik, 2013). Therefore, even though adopting tests as a graduation prerequisite may appear to be one of the techniques to raise student accountability, a few researchers (Giambo, 2010; Heckman & LaFontaine, 2010; Heilig et al, 2011; Logel, 2012) thought that it can raise the amount of students who drop out of high school.
The stress on acquiring knowledge for the benefit of clearing tests can as well discourage the students from acquiring further understanding about the subjects of their interest and in fact hampers students’ enthusiasm to gain knowledge (Papay et al, 2010). In some studies (Goodman et al, 2011; Plunk et al, 2014; Scott-Clayton, 2012), educators stated that their students appear to be more stressed out, annoyed, discouraged and / or disappointed by increase in high stakes testing.
Educators are expected to adopt instructional techniques and materials that are similar to testing and to increase time spent on the preparation of examination (Schargel & Smink, 2013). They are as well expected to overlook subjects that are not included in tests and avoid modern teaching techniques (Murnane, 2013). Since the stakes depending on standardized tests rises, so does the stress for the educators, the majority of whom mentioned feeling tense and irritated. Regardless of the considerable level of research carried out on the influence of high stakes testing, the wider effect of testing on the organization as well as management of educational institutions has been severely overlooked (Reardon et al, 2010).
Following is outline of topics that will be included in this study:
1. Background of Introducing High Stakes Testing on Michigan
- Minimum requirement for meeting the standards
- Increased stress from federal government
- Rising the bar
2. Educational Reform in Michigan
- Involvement of high schools
- Development of tests
3. Initial Issues in Implementation of High Stakes Testing Policy
- Increasing challenges
- Making it a prerequisite for graduation
- Local impact
Methodology
This study will adopt the quantitative approach to find out the links, if any, between high stakes, testing and number of high school dropouts.
Research Design
This study will explain the connection between high stakes testing and the dropout rate of high school students. Here, high stakes testing will be taken as an independent variable and dropout rate will be taken as a dependent variable. In order to find out whether high stakes testing has raised the number of dropout students in Michigan, the dropout rate before and after the implementation of high stakes testing will be calculated and compared using the t test.
Instrumentation
Dropout rates among high school students in Michigan will be collected from the state’s educational department. Moreover, the administration of high schools will also be contacted, of needed, to verify the data. The data gathered will only be shown in the form of combined number of dropouts and the percentage of high school students who did not graduate.
Population and Data Collection
The population for this study includes students in Michigan, who attended high schools during 2000 to 2010. The information will be collected about all the students who dropped out of high school before the implementation of high stakes testing. The trend will then be compared to the number of students who dropped out after high stake testing policy put in place. Confidentiality will be assured on all levels of this study and hence, names, test / examination results, and grades of the students will not be.
Data Analysis
A t test for independent means will be carried out via comparing the statistics of two years before the implementation of high stakes testing policy with the statistics for ten years following implementation. The t test for independent means will be applied when evaluating the mean of two sets with the intention of finding out whether there is a major difference between them or not. A two tailed test was as well used for the same purpose.
Ethical Consideration
Throughout the study, researcher will carefully consider all the ethical concerns that may arise. A preliminary e-mail was sent to all the prospective participants to explain the nature of the research. All respondents were ensured that their identity will be kept strictly confidential and will not be compromised.
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Appendix
Table showing the dependent and independent variables and analysis plan
