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High-Stakes Testing and Curricular Control: A Qualitative Metasynthesis

Assistant Professor in the Department of Secondary Education at California State University, P.O. Box 6868, Fullerton, CA 92834-6868; wau{at}fullerton.edu. He is also an editor for the journal Rethinking Schools, and his research interests include social justice education and critical educational theory

Using the method of qualitative metasynthesis, this study analyzes 49 qualitative studies to interrogate how high-stakes testing affects curriculum, defined here as embodying content, knowledge form, and pedagogy. The findings from this study complicate the understanding of the relationship between high-stakes testing and classroom practice by identifying contradictory trends. The primary effect of high-stakes testing is that curricular content is narrowed to tested subjects, subject area knowledge is fragmented into test-related pieces, and teachers increase the use of teacher-centered pedagogies. However, this study also finds that, in a significant minority of cases, certain types of high-stakes tests have led to curricular content expansion, the integration of knowledge, and more student-centered, cooperative pedagogies. Thus the findings of the study suggest that the nature of high-stakes-test-induced curricular control is highly dependent on the structures of the tests themselves.

Key Words: curriculum theory • high-stakes testing • qualitative metasynthesis • template analysis

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