Panel Finds Few Learning Benefits in High-Stakes Exams

Report by blue-ribbon commission likely to feed debate on the wisdom of tying consequences to students' test scores

As Congress debates how to structure the next iteration of federal school accountability, a new national study has raised serious concerns about the effectiveness of test-based incentives to improve education.

A blue-ribbon committee of the National Academies’ National Research Council undertook a nearly decade-long study of test-based incentive systems, including the “adequate yearly progress” measures under the No Child Left Behind Act, high school exit exams, teacher merit-pay programs, and other testing-and-accountability initiatives. While the panel says it supports evaluating education systems and holding them accountable, on the whole it found the approaches implemented so far have had little or no effect on actual student learning, and in some cases have run counter...