Testing, Stress, and Performance: How Students Respond Physiologically to High-Stakes Testing (WP-18-31)
Jennifer Heissel, Emma Adam, Jennifer Doleac, David Figlio, and Jonathan Meer
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. The researchers collect data on students’ stress responses using cortisol samples provided by low-income students in New Orleans.They measure how their cortisol patterns change during high-stakes testing weeks relative to baseline weeks. They find that high-stakes testing does affect cortisol responses, and those responses have consequences for test performance. Those who responded most strongly – with either a large increase or large decrease in cortisol – scored 0.40 standard deviations lower than expected on the high-stakes exam.
This paper is published in Education Finance and Policy.