Is test anxiety a peril for students with intellectual disabilities?

Abstract

Test anxiety is one of the most confronting issues in modern times with the increase in the number of standardised and high-stakes testing. Research has established that there is a direct link between test anxiety and cognitive deficits. The aim of this study is to determine the test anxiety scores of the students with intellectual disabilities in South Australia. It also provided insights into the reasons for high-test anxiety in the participants under study. The Spielberger's Test Anxiety Questionnaire was administered on students with intellectual disabilities in stage 1. Interviews were conducted with participants with intellectual disabilities, parents and teachers in stage 2. Questionnaire findings revealed that the majority of the adolescent females and males and all adult females with intellectual disabilities had high test anxiety scores. However, the majority of adult males with intellectual disabilities obtained moderate test anxiety scores. In the worry and emotionality subscales, it was also found that the majority of adolescents and adults with intellectual disabilities were found to score high. The high test anxiety scores have been justified by the interview responses obtained from the three groups of respondents. A number of factors have been identified to be the major predictors of test anxiety in students with intellectual disabilities.

A systematic review on test anxiety in children and young people with learning difficulties

“…A summary of the characteristics of the studies can be found in Table 1. Six of the studies are peer-reviewed journal articles (Swanson and Howell, 1996;Peleg, 2009;Datta, 2013Datta, , 2014Nelson et al, 2015;Lewandowski et al, 2016).…”

“…The sum total of participants included in all of the studies is 1515, and the study by Lewandowski et al (2016) had the largest number of participants with 776. Datta (2013Datta ( , 2014, Lewandowski et al (2016), Peleg (2009), Swanson and Howell (1996) utilised participants aged between 13-18 and Weprin (1999) had participants who were aged between 9-10. Nelson et al (2015), Custodero (2013) and Stevens (2000) focused on university and post-graduate students.…”

“…The studies also focused on a variety of learning difficulties across the different age groups. Custodero (2013), Datta (2013), Peleg (2009) and Stevens (2000) focused on learning difficulties more broadly whilst Lewandowski et al (2016), Nelson et al (2015) and Weprin (1999) recruited participants with specific learning difficulties in reading. Two studies explored various types of learning difficulties within their research; Datta (2014) explored students who had a visual impairment or general learning difficulties and Swanson and Howell (1996) explored individuals who had general learning difficulties, behavioural difficulties and/or attention-deficit difficulties.…”

Exploring the efficacy of mindfulness on regulating the emotional state of middle school students during the high-stakes testing era

“…al., 2014). High-stakes tests also have profound impacts on students from specific populations, with 60% of students with disabilities showing high levels of anxiety before testing situations (Datta, 2013) and 70% of EL students expressing discontentment at the amount of testing in US schools (Yee, 2015). Lastly, in the long-term, students who fail high-stakes testing have less chances of graduation and are at greater risk of dropping out (Amrein & Berliner, 2003).…”

“…Research shows a significant link between test anxiety and cognition. An Australian study of 20 students with disabilities indicated that 60% of both female and male students with disabilities showed high anxiety levels before testing, with the remaining 40% experiencing moderate anxiety (Datta, 2013). This finding presents troubling realities for the implementation of high-stakes testing in two ways.…”