1. High-stakes Standardized
Testing and Marginalized
Youth: An Examination of the
Impact on Those Who Fail

2. Background:
Local and global pressures to
have “literate workforce”
High-stakes standardized testing is
being used to:
Raise academic standards
Hold teachers and students
accountable for meeting
standards
Boost public confidence in
schools

3. Study:
Seeking to understand the impact of
standardized testing on youth
Ontario Secondary School Literacy
Test (OSSLT)
Interviewed 16 students who failed
OSSLT
All students interviewed were
considered to be “at risk”
Contrasted goals of Ontario’s
education system with the voices of
students who failed the OSSLT

5. Conclusion:
 Students found the OSSLT to be
inequitable and unhelpful to their
learning and well-being.
 Test results challenged student self-
esteem and their perceptions of their
abilities in English
 Results of previous studies lead the
author to conclude that students who
fail the OSSLT are not simply illiterate but
rather are marginalized due to complex
social, political and economic
circumstances

6. Resources
Kearns, L. (2011). High-stakes Standardized Testing
and Marginalized Youth: An Examination of the
Impact on Those Who Fail. Canadian Journal of
Education, 34(2), 112-131.