From the Consortium on Chicago School Research from the University of Chicago, a report that extensive test prep actually lowered student scores on the ACT. The report–From High School to the Future: ACT Preparation–Too Much, Too Late—found:

• Low ACT scores reflect poor alignment of standards from K-8 to high school and from high school to college.

• Test strategies and item practice are not effective mechanisms for improving students’ ACT scores.

• ACT performance is directly related to students’ work in their courses.

• Incorporating the ACT into high school accountability is not an effective strategy for high school reform by itself, without accompanying strategies to work on instructional practice.

They concluded that students are trying to cram in study for the ACT when the best preparation takes years of college-prep study and work.

I know that the researchers would probably not want to generalize to other types of tests, but I can’t help but wonder how this might apply to high-stakes testing in general.  I have a feeling sometimes that school has become just one big test prep program, with students and teachers spending each year cramming for the test, then beginning anew each September.