High Stakes TestingAlbert Einstein once said, “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” High-stakes tests attempt to determine the knowledge a person has acquired throughout K-12. These standardized tests are used to judge a person's ability to graduate from high school and also to determine whether a child has enough knowledge to advance to the next grade level. Throughout this article, I will explain how these tests do not accurately reflect a student's intelligence, how they have increased dropout rates, and also show the harmful psychological effects they have had. High-stakes tests do not accurately determine a student's intelligence. In 1999, the National Academy of Sciences studied appropriate and inappropriate uses of testing. They agreed that "no test score can be considered a definitive measure of a student's knowledge" (http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/news/histakes_test_position_statement.htm). To use these standardized tests to decide whether a person has earned their/their credentials is unreasonable and they have proven to be ineffective. The Children's Alliance states that "the use of standardized tests as the sole measure of whether students are promoted, placed in lower grades, or will graduate from high school is condemned as unsupportable by all child care organizations." professional tests. » (Alliance for Childhood). In Arizona, the AIMS (Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards) test will soon be used for this purpose; high school students of the year 2008 must pass this test to obtain their diploma. A study prepared by the Arizona Standards organization states that "the Arizona AIMS test, if implemented today, would fail between 50% and 75% of all high tests......paper averages." ..... Standards (OBJECTIVES). Arizona Department of Education. Retrieved October 24, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://www.ade.state.az.us/standards/aims/PerformanceStandards/performancelevels.asp2. Testing and maintaining grades. Retrieved October 24, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.fairtest.org/arn/retenfct.htm3. Position statement on high-stakes testing. Alliance for Children. Retrieved October 24, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/news/histakes_test_position_statement.htm4. Haney, Walt. The Myth of the Texas Miracle in Education. Retrieved October 24, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v8n41/5. What's wrong with high-stakes testing in general and objectives in particular? Retrieved October 24, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.azstandards.org/protestmaterials.htm