“Assessing Ourselves to Death.” English Journal, September 2001.

“Teaching _________ the Test
a) to     b) about     c) against     d) all of the above.” Language Arts, January 2002.

"Improving Learning through Classroom Assessment." School Talk, October 2004.

“Teaching, Testing, and Testifying.” School Talk, January 2002. 

“What’s Really at Stake Here? High-Stakes Assessment of Teachers.” English Education, January 2002.

Dudley, Martha. “The Rise and Fall of a Statewide Assessment System.” English Journal, January 1997, p. 15-20.
Details the history of California's experience with large-scale writing assessment. Describes the introduction, development, and scoring of the California Assessment Program, later renamed the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS). Discusses controversies over removal of certain writing prompts and objections to CLAS. Notes that funding for CLAS was vetoed in 1994.

Falk, Beverly. “Testing the Way Children Learn: Principles for Valid Literacy Assessments.” Language Arts, September 1998, p. 57-66.
Outlines principles for assessments that are supportive of teaching and learning, and discusses qualities that such assessments must have in order to be useful for reporting information to the public. Introduces a language arts assessment (the Elementary Literacy Profiles) designed to embody these principles and qualities so that it will be instructionally supportive as well as useful for accountability.

Kraemer, Don J. "Fighting Forward: Why Studying Standardized Tests with Our Students Is Important." English Journal, March 2005.
Don J. Kraemer argues that helping students intelligently critique standardized tests is a necessary form of test preparation. His detailed analysis of typical questions reveals what students are truly asked to do on the tests.

Luna, Catherine and Cara Livingstone Turner. “The Impact of the MCAS: Teachers Talk about High-Stakes Testing.” English Journal, September 2001, p. 79-87.
Massachusetts English Teachers talk about the impact of the new Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) and how they are dealing with this test in their classrooms and schools, expressing concerns about how it has changed the way they teach, how they are teaching to the test, and how the test has resulted in loss of creativity and thought.

McClaskey, Janet. “Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad TAAS? Rethinking Our Response to Standardized Testing.” English Journal, September 2001, p. 88-96.
McClaskey emphasizes the importance of how we react to standardized tests. Teachers should self-educate themselves to the test, she says, and mold the curriculum creatively around the content by focusing teaching on making meaning rather than memorization. She provides examples from her own classroom detailing how she ensures that her students pass the test while still including creative and interesting opportunities for learning.

McCracken, Nancy Mellin and Hugh Thomas McCracken. “Teaching in the Time of Testing: What Have You Lost?” English Journal, September 2001, p. 30-35.
In preparing for this essay, the McCrackens asked teachers, "What have you lost from your teaching or your classroom since the growth of mandated standardized testing?" Respondents noted not only loss of instructional time but, more significantly, loss of themselves as teachers and declining desire to teach. The authors express further concern for teacher preparation in the age of high-stakes teacher testing and present a critical view of the Praxis II.

Ohanian, Susan. “You Say Stakeholder; I Say Robber Baron.” Language Arts, November 2000, p. 148-157.
Argues that the dehumanization of everyone involved with educational standards is astounding. Offers stories of standardized tests and schools that sort children into winners and losers, and of lock-step, rigid "teaching." Contrasts this with success stories from three excellent classrooms where teachers' personal "standards" include deep passion and caring for children, for language, and for teaching.

Quate, Stephanie. “Collaboration: Making a Difference.” English Leadership Quarterly, August 1999, p. 1-5.
Details two schools’ techniques in dealing with new standards testing. The schools “…thoughtfully provided teachers with necessary resources, including staff development…” Constructive responses to standards testing.

Thomas, P. L. “Standards, Standards Everywhere, and Not a Spot to Think.” English Journal, September 2001, p. 63-67. 
Though well-intentioned, the current standards and testing movement has had a serious negative impact on the teaching of reading and writing and we have seen the return to isolated instruction and inauthentic purposes for both reading and writing in classrooms at all grade levels. Thomas says that the English classroom is the central place to take a stand against these inauthentic and reductionist assessment approaches.

Zorn, Jeff. “Diplomas Dubiously Denied: A Taxonomy and Commentary.” English Journal, September 2001, p. 73-78.
Zorn organizes a confusing array of arguments and negotiates between two camps: those who favor standards reform and high stakes tests and those who argue against them. Concludes that neither holds the key to school reform and present a third camp - one that favors intellectual growth above all else.