The question is: are high-stakes tests harmful or beneficial to students? Reading only the critics point of view I would say the tests are harmful. On the other hand if you only read the advocates point of view I’d say that they are beneficial. When you read both points of view the outcome may be very different. It seems to me after the reading that the negatives outweigh the positives. From the reading I was really only getting a few positives. High-stakes tests seem to be fair to all students. They are also an effective way to promote success for students. These tests are a good way to measure how well students are learning the material. Teachers can use the results of the tests to see where students need the most improvements and go over the material in greater detail. On the other hand there seem to be a lot of negatives. High- stakes tests force teachers to put most of their time teaching only subjects contained within the test de-emphasizing other subjects. With all this time being spent on test content students are deprived of a well-rounded education. The pressures to score well on these tests are so intense that it can sometimes lead to cheating. The pressure from these tests may also cause a lack of motivation and decreased student learning. Teachers will often request transfer s out of grades that are tested and out of urban schools depriving students of the expert teachers they may need. Back to the original question: are high-stakes tests harmful or