Testing, Stress, and Performance: How Students Respond Physiologically to High-Stakes Testing
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Authors
Heissel, Jennifer A.
Adam, Emma K.
Doleac, Jennifer L.
Figlio, David N.
Meer, Jonathan
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2021
Date
Spring 2021
Publisher
MIT Press
Language
Abstract
We examine how students’ physiological stress differs between a regular school week and a high-stakes testing week, and we raise questions about how to interpret high-stakes test scores. A potential contributor to socioeconomic disparities in academic performance is the difference in the level of stress experienced by students outside of school. Chronic stress—due to neighborhood violence, poverty, or family instability—can affect how individuals’ bodies respond to stressors in general, including the stress of standardized testing. This, in turn, can affect whether performance on standardized tests is a valid measure of students’ actual ability. We collect data on students’ stress responses using cortisol samples provided by low-income students in New Orleans. We measure how their cortisol patterns change during high-stakes testing weeks relative to baseline weeks. We find that high-stakes testing is related to cortisol responses, and those responses are related to test performance. Those who responded most strongly, with either increases or decreases in cortisol, scored 0.40 standard deviations lower than expected on the high-stakes exam.
Type
Article
Description
17 USC 105 interim-entered record; under review.
The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00306
The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00306
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Spencer Foundation (Grant No. 2015000117) and the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University
Funding
Grant No. 2015000117
Format
26 p.
Citation
Heissel, Jennifer A., et al. "Testing, stress, and performance: How students respond physiologically to high-stakes testing." Education Finance and Policy (2021) 16 (2): 183–208.
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.