High Stakes Assessments

A high-stakes test is any test that is used by educational or government institutions to make important decisions about the students, educators or schools. These assessments have an extraordinary importance for the students in the schools that follow Chinese curriculum, but they are equally significant for the learners attending international schools in China. Let's analyze the impact of high-stakes assessments in these two types of schools in Shanghai.

High-stakes assessments in an international school

The school I'm working at is a private high school following international curriculum (Cambridge International Examinations). We offer Overseas University Preparatory Program and our main goal is to ensure that our students are ready for final CIE exams in May/June. These exams are mostly focused on their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and they represent a real challenge for the students. The grades our students get at these exams are determining their future! They have to achieve the minimum mark required by the university they applied to, and most of their offers are conditional. If they don't, they are not able to go to study abroad, or they would have to accept the offer of the lower ranked university. This brings a lot of pressure on our students, not only to perform well on these exams, but also not to disappoint their parents who have high expectations, and finance their extremely expensive international education.  Most of the time, this means that they also hire subject tutors to help them prepare for the exams conducted in the language that is not their native, English tutors, as well as University Guidance agencies that will work on their university applications. On the top of this, they also have to pass SAT/IELTS/TOEFL and other exams, and preparation for these affects their regular studies of CIE curriculum. Unfortunately, many of them don't know how to deal with this huge pressure, and we've seen many cases of depression and family issues that arise as a consequence of these assessments. The school is providing additional support to the students and their parents and tries to do everything to ensure mental health and emotional stability of the learners during this stressful period of their student life. The CIE exam results are also analyzed every year, compared to the global average, and the results are seen as the outcomes of the teaching practice of particular teachers. However, these results normally differ every year and they depend on the attitude and academic abilities of the students as well, so no payscale changes are used to reward nor to punish the teachers. If there is a strong evidence that the results are the consequence of the teaching abilities of a particular teacher over the longer period of time, this could be considered when renewing the contract. The exam statistics are an important selling point of international schools, as well as one of the crucial part of the resumes of international teachers who are applying for their jobs worldwide. 

Students in China spend years of preparation for their CIE exams

Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcjohn/74907741

High-stakes assessments in a public school

High-stakes test for any public high school in China mostly refers to Gaokao exam. This is the university entrance exam that determines if the students can proceed to their university studies and it's taken at the end of the high school studies. It includes compulsory subjects such as Chinese, Math, and English, as well as electives, such as Biology, Physics, Chemistry, History, Political Science, and Geography. My friends working in one public high school in Shanghai confirm that everything Chinese students and teachers do there leads toward this goal - get as good Gaokao result as possible. It is very common that the students are regularly losing some classes which are on the timetable, but if not included in their Gaokao exam, they are not seen as important. For example, music teachers are often complaining that they get informed last minute that their students would have Math and Science class instead of Music since that's important for their final examination. This means that the schools are sending the message to the students about the importance of this exam, and it shows how little attention is given to the other subjects which are not examined at their entrance exam. 

The fact that there is an enormous number of students taking Gaokao every year, brings a huge pressure on the learners. Not only that their parents have high expectations, but there are many reports that even the teachers choose the best students, who have the best chances to perform well, and focus most of their attention on these students! It's also interesting that these teachers and students see international schools as an easy way to get to university, and the decision of the students to move to private international schools is viewed as running away from the real challenge! Public schools tend to give much more homework, and getting to Chinese university seems is a real mission considering the number of candidates applying every year. Many reports on the suicide attempts and sudden deaths were published, and this is a hot topic in China. However, no significant changes to the examination system were made, and the students are still having hard times on their way to university. 

Conclusion

High-stakes assessments in China are an extremely important topic in the wide public and the fact that there is a lot of competition brings an additional pressure on the local students and their teachers. The students in the local educational system are struggling with the limited number of seats offered by their preffered universities and their public schools focus only on the subjects needed for ther final exams. On the other side,  the students attending international schools have a different kind of challenge: how to justify the expectations and an outstanding financial support of their parents and pass all of the international exams in another language while competing with international candidates. Both types of high schools have a clear focus on achieving good results at high-stakes assessments, and serious consequences on the way schools are operated, classes are conducted and teachers are evaluated.  

References:

High-Stakes Assignments. (n.d.). Retrieved January 08, 2018, from https://resources.depaul.edu/teaching-commons/teaching-guides/feedback-grading/Pages/high-stakes-assignments.aspx

Kamenetz, A. (2015, January 22). The Past, Present And Future Of High-Stakes Testing. Retrieved January 08, 2018, from https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/01/22/377438689/the-past-present-and-future-of-high-stakes-testing

Smarter Balanced Essentials for Educators. (n.d.). Retrieved January 08, 2018, from http://www.smarterbalanced.org/educators/essentials/