This study has as its focus three main areas of concentration. First, the
impact of high-stakes testing on the written and taught curriculum of language arts
teachers in the seventh and eighth grades was studied. Second, the pedagogy of
each teacher was examined as students prepared for the Pennsylvania System of
School Assessment. A final focus was the effect of high-stakes tests on the attitudes
and perceptions of the language arts teachers. The results of this study are exhibited
through three primary sources: questionnaires, interviews, and classroom
observations. The emergent themes became apparent as the complete data were
examined.