Does high-stakes testing increase cultural capital among low-income and racial minority students?

Authors

  • Won-Pyo Hong Michigan State University
  • Peter Youngs Michigan State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v16n6.2008

Keywords:

cultural capital, high-stakes testing, accountability, K-12 schooling in the U.S.

Abstract

This article draws on research from Texas and Chicago to examine whether high-stakes testing enables low-income and racial minority students to acquire cultural capital. While students' performance on state or district tests rose after the implementation of high-stakes testing and accountability policies in Texas and Chicago in the 1990s, several studies indicate that these policies seemed to have had deleterious effects on curriculum, instruction, the percentage of students excluded from the tests, and student dropout rates. As a result, the policies seemed to have had mixed effects on students' opportunities to acquire embodied and institutionalized cultural capital. These findings are consistent with the work of Shepard (2000), Darling-Hammond (2004a), and others who have written of the likely negative repercussions of high-stakes testing and accountability policies.

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Author Biographies

Won-Pyo Hong, Michigan State University

Won-Pyo Hong is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University. His research interests center on how curriculum policy, accountability systems and standards-based reform have differential impacts on students from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

Peter Youngs, Michigan State University

Peter Youngs is an assistant professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. His research interests focus on policy and practice in the areas of teacher education, induction, and professional development. Recent publications have appeared in Teachers College Record, Educational Administration Quarterly, and Studying Teacher Education: The Report of the AERA Panel on Research and Teacher Education.

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Published

2008-03-14

How to Cite

Hong, W.-P., & Youngs, P. (2008). Does high-stakes testing increase cultural capital among low-income and racial minority students?. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 16, 6. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v16n6.2008

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Section

Articles