School systems across the country have adopted policies, such as Florida’s A+ program,  that reward or sanction schools depending on how their students perform on standardized tests. The A+ program assigns schools a grade from A to F, based on how their students score in reading and math. While research indicates that students with a previous F in those high-stakes subjects have now improved, a frequent concern is that schools focus only on subjects for which they are held accountable, obliging them to crowd out student proficiency in other important subjects, such as science.

At this event, Marcus Winters, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, will present findings from his new study: “The Impact of High-Stakes Testing on Student Proficiency in Low-Stakes Subjects: Results of Florida’s A+ Accountability Program.” Winters and coauthor Jay P. Greene examine quantitative data to evaluate the impact of Florida’s high-stakes testing program on student proficiency in science. David Figlio, a professor of economics at the University of Florida, and Urban Institute education scholar Jane Hannaway will comment. Henry Olsen of AEI will moderate.