Test To the Teach(ing) - Not Vice Versa

Spring is here; must be state testing time.

Lest we forget, the purpose of all this testing is to determine what students have actually learned. The goal of education is not to produce great test takers, but to prepare tomorrow's citizens.

It's a harsh reality that some students in this country receive a rich, challenging curriculum which allows them to perform consistently well on tests and other evaluations; while other children--particularly the children of the poor--are more often in schools focused on control and remediation. Ironically, many of those who insist on forcing teachers and students to spend inordinate amounts of time drilling basic skills believe they are helping "close the achievement gap." In fact, they may actually be making it wider.

One of my TLN colleagues, David B. Cohen, who teaches at the upscale Palo Alto High School in CA, summed it up nicely:

What I wish people would realize is that "good" schools with high test scores don't think of their instruction as some kind of reward for the test scores.  They don't focus on basic skills and then suddenly reach a point where they...develop deeper knowledge, enrich learning, engage students' interests, etc.  It's not basics and then enrichment.  The basics can be addressed more covertly, more authentically, and more effectively, when those skills are developed in a meaningful and motivational context.  That type of environment shouldn't be the exception, the unearned privilege of the children of privileged parents, and those lucky enough to attend schools that test well. That type of education is the birthright of every child.

The recent news that states are revising their tests may or may not be reason for optimism unless the purpose and the methods of these evaluations are going to be more honestly aligned with a fuller learning experience for students. 

Our goal should be more schools where children thrive and bloom intellectually such as those profiled by our friends at Public School Insights (take a look at Taylor Ray Elementary School for example). Notice that the emphasis here is on what the teachers and other staff did TOGETHER that has made a powerful and consistent difference in student performance.

 

 

Comments

[Anthony Cody]

The schools David describes don't NEED to explicitly connect instruction to test scores. The background and intense support of the parents in these schools make those scores come relatively easily. The problem I see in Oakland is that students raised in poverty come to school without the vocabulary and skills that their middle class counterparts have. The schools in poor areas have to "catch up." To do this, they try to figure out what will be on the tests (which is not too hard) and then focus their limited time on that set of knowledge and skills.

It seems clear that we value many things that are NOT measured by the tests. But as long as we base our accountability only on that which is tested, schools in trouble will focus on the tests and all these other values will be downgraded.

[Claus]

Thanks for the nod to Public School Insights, Renee!

I worry that, when states revise their tests in a time of famine, the tests will actually grow worse rather than better.