High-Stakes Schooling ─ What We Can Learn from Japan's Experiences With Testing, Accountability, and Education Reform

In a time when high-stakes testing is changing the culture of American schools, Christopher Bjork has been following the effects of new education reforms in Japan that push in the opposite direction—reforms that are moving schoolsaway from testing to try to institute a new “relaxed” school culture. For years, the Japanese education system has been held up as a model deserving emulation. Why would a system that was enjoying such success undertake such an ambitious reform project? Could a system anchored by an examination regime that produced cohesion and dependability—but also great stress—be reshaped to nurture children’s individuality, creativity, and intellectual curiosity?

Over a six-year period, Bjork traveled around Japan interviewing students, parents, teachers, administrators, academics, and Ministry officials about their experiences. What he discovered is that, though “relaxed education” is now mandated, Japan’s stressful, high-stakes testing culture has essentially become part of the national culture—despite the country’s dissatisfaction with a nation of stressed-out children, the system appears to be unable to right itself. Japan’s story is a most useful cautionary tale for the US. With each year that standardized tests continue to determine the opportunities provided to students and teachers, the more difficult it becomes to retreat from policies like NCLB and Race to the Top. We would be wise to think carefully about the direction of the US school system because, as we see in Japan, once an education system becomes tethered to standardized tests, it is remarkably difficult to cut those cords.

Christopher Bjork is professor and the Dexter M. Ferry Chair of Education at Vassar College. He is the author ofIndonesian Education and editor or coeditor of many other books, includingEducation and Training in Japan, Educational Decentralization, Taking Teaching Seriously, andJapanese Education in an Era of Globalization.