Undermining quality teaching and learning: A self-determination theory perspective on high-stakes testing
Ryan, Richard Michael Weinstein, Netta
Ryan, Richard Michael
Weinstein, Netta
Abstract
Using tests to compare nations, states, school districts, schools, teachers, and students has increasingly become a basis for educational reform around the globe. Although tests can be informative, high-stakes testing (HST) is an approach to reform that applies rewards and sanctions contingent on test outcomes. Results of HST reforms indicate a plethora of unintended negative consequences, leading some to suggest that HST corrupts educational practices in schools. Although there are many accounts of these negative results, SDT supplies the only systematic theory of motivation that explains these effects. In what follows we describe the motivational principles underlying the undermining effects of HST on teachers and learners alike.
Keywords
Date
2009
Type
Journal article
Journal
Theory and Research in Education
Book
Volume
7
Issue
2
Page Range
224-233
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Positive Psychology and Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts