What does "teaching to the test" really mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the test is a good test, then teaching to the test is one way to insure mastery of the material. If the test is a bad test, then it may be possible to do well on the test without understanding the material.

Most standardized tests are not robust to test specific prep. This is why prep courses can improve scores so much without actually teaching you anything useful.

This!

How does that apply in the context of DCPS schools?

An example of teaching to the test in DCPS is teaching kids how to type and use the mouse. Good keyboarding skills has nothing to do with your math ability, but definitely affects PARCC scores.

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My kid is in third grade and will take the PARCC for the first time this year. Does third grade PARCc require kids to type short answers or even essays? That will be a problem. He can write,but can barey type and would simply resort to typing the minimum possible when he would write more on paper.

Life requires typing now. Would it be so terrible if your school taught to the test (i.e., teach basic typing skills) so that he could demonstrate his actual knowledge?

Typing may be an important skills, but current 3rd graders probably only dictate things or use touch screens with predictive text. Regardless, the point is if you want to evaluate typing, make it a different part of the test and don't make the reading comprehension score depend on typing ability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the test is a good test, then teaching to the test is one way to insure mastery of the material. If the test is a bad test, then it may be possible to do well on the test without understanding the material.

Most standardized tests are not robust to test specific prep. This is why prep courses can improve scores so much without actually teaching you anything useful.

This!

How does that apply in the context of DCPS schools?

An example of teaching to the test in DCPS is teaching kids how to type and use the mouse. Good keyboarding skills has nothing to do with your math ability, but definitely affects PARCC scores.

.
My kid is in third grade and will take the PARCC for the first time this year. Does third grade PARCc require kids to type short answers or even essays? That will be a problem. He can write,but can barey type and would simply resort to typing the minimum possible when he would write more on paper.

Life requires typing now. Would it be so terrible if your school taught to the test (i.e., teach basic typing skills) so that he could demonstrate his actual knowledge?

Sure, it's good to learn typing, but still, it's ridiculous to have a an ELA score dependent on typing for written responses in third grade. Too young and won't be an accurate reflection of actual writing language ability.

[Anonymous]

Tests aren’t basic enough, they present weird problems in weird ways so you spend all your time getting kids to understand instructions as they’re presented on the test. Majority of which aren’t useful or incredibly time consuming to learn with little long-term benefit.

[Anonymous]

Reading this on the PARCC made my head spin.

I would have gotten that question wrong.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0910-parcc-problem-20190909-m6e6d7uukjbdxdnfnt5ipgvcae-story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading this on the PARCC made my head spin.

I would have gotten that question wrong.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0910-parcc-problem-20190909-m6e6d7uukjbdxdnfnt5ipgvcae-story.html

You would have gotten that question wrong? Seriously? I’m not saying questions aren’t over complicated, but my takeaway was that the article writer was an idiot if he would have just checked E and moved on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this on the PARCC made my head spin.

I would have gotten that question wrong.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0910-parcc-problem-20190909-m6e6d7uukjbdxdnfnt5ipgvcae-story.html

You would have gotten that question wrong? Seriously? I’m not saying questions aren’t over complicated, but my takeaway was that the article writer was an idiot if he would have just checked E and moved on.

Yes. I haven't taken a test in some years and made the same mistake ad the author. Judge away, I did pass AP calculus once upon a time 25 years ago. But sure, I'm an idiot too.

[Anonymous]

Here's a sample from the 5th grade PARCC. I mean, seriously.
Who GAF about this kind of question?


Diana works at a clothing store. She sold 1/5 of the total number of green shirts on Monday and 3/12 of the total number of green shirts on Tuesday.

What fraction of green shirts did Diana sell on Monday and Tuesday?

Diana sold 2/15 of the total number of green shirts on Wednesday. What is the difference in the fraction of the total number of green shirts that were sold on Tuesday and Wednesday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the test is a good test, then teaching to the test is one way to insure mastery of the material. If the test is a bad test, then it may be possible to do well on the test without understanding the material.

Most standardized tests are not robust to test specific prep. This is why prep courses can improve scores so much without actually teaching you anything useful.

This!

How does that apply in the context of DCPS schools?

An example of teaching to the test in DCPS is teaching kids how to type and use the mouse. Good keyboarding skills has nothing to do with your math ability, but definitely affects PARCC scores.

.
My kid is in third grade and will take the PARCC for the first time this year. Does third grade PARCc require kids to type short answers or even essays? That will be a problem. He can write,but can barey type and would simply resort to typing the minimum possible when he would write more on paper.

Life requires typing now. Would it be so terrible if your school taught to the test (i.e., teach basic typing skills) so that he could demonstrate his actual knowledge?

Sure, it's good to learn typing, but still, it's ridiculous to have a an ELA score dependent on typing for written responses in third grade. Too young and won't be an accurate reflection of actual writing language ability.

PARCC tests reading not writing. It’s one of the biggest failures of standardized testing at the elementary level. I teach in VA and they eliminated the writing SOL (PARCC Virginia version) for 5th grade several years ago and teachers stopped teaching writing. It was horrible. Now the writing sol is back and everyone is scrambling. Most students don’t even know basic grammar. Anyhow, ask your school about writing instruction. It is nonexistent in my kids DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I taught in a Title 1 elementary school very focused on test scores. It’s a lot of worksheets in math and only focusing on standards that you know will be assessed. Everything else is secondary. It’s very similar in ELA. Lots of worksheets that are skill based - Find the main idea, What is the genre, identify story elements. No real reading for enjoyment. Lots of talking about how to take a test, test strategies, process of elimination etc. This isn’t just for a couple of weeks before testing starts. This is all year starting in September.

+1. Not a teacher but this is what I hear from teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced you don’t want him be in a school that spend their time teaching to test.

Why?

NP because the kid already mastered the foundations and don’t need basic superficial teaching of subjects and test taking strategies. They absolutely don’t need worksheets, worksheets, worksheets.

What they need is more depth of material, more challenging work, more critical thinking and analysis, etc…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced you don’t want him be in a school that spend their time teaching to test.

Why?

NP because the kid already mastered the foundations and don’t need basic superficial teaching of subjects and test taking strategies. They absolutely don’t need worksheets, worksheets, worksheets.

What they need is more depth of material, more challenging work, more critical thinking and analysis, etc…

+1 this approach just bores kids (who need more challenge/depth) out of their minds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the test is a good test, then teaching to the test is one way to insure mastery of the material. If the test is a bad test, then it may be possible to do well on the test without understanding the material.

Most standardized tests are not robust to test specific prep. This is why prep courses can improve scores so much without actually teaching you anything useful.

This!

How does that apply in the context of DCPS schools?

An example of teaching to the test in DCPS is teaching kids how to type and use the mouse. Good keyboarding skills has nothing to do with your math ability, but definitely affects PARCC scores.

.
My kid is in third grade and will take the PARCC for the first time this year. Does third grade PARCc require kids to type short answers or even essays? That will be a problem. He can write,but can barey type and would simply resort to typing the minimum possible when he would write more on paper.

Life requires typing now. Would it be so terrible if your school taught to the test (i.e., teach basic typing skills) so that he could demonstrate his actual knowledge?

Sure, it's good to learn typing, but still, it's ridiculous to have a an ELA score dependent on typing for written responses in third grade. Too young and won't be an accurate reflection of actual writing language ability.

PARCC tests reading not writing. It’s one of the biggest failures of standardized testing at the elementary level. I teach in VA and they eliminated the writing SOL (PARCC Virginia version) for 5th grade several years ago and teachers stopped teaching writing. It was horrible. Now the writing sol is back and everyone is scrambling. Most students don’t even know basic grammar. Anyhow, ask your school about writing instruction. It is nonexistent in my kids DCPS.

No. There is a portion that is pure writing on the PARCC. They must read two passages and then write a multi paragraph response comparing, analyzing and sometimes they must continue the story from the point of view of one of the main characters. This is 3rd grade. It’s hard and requires a significant amount of typing and high level analysis that a lot of kids just are not ready for when they are 8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I taught in a Title 1 elementary school very focused on test scores. It’s a lot of worksheets in math and only focusing on standards that you know will be assessed. Everything else is secondary. It’s very similar in ELA. Lots of worksheets that are skill based - Find the main idea, What is the genre, identify story elements. No real reading for enjoyment. Lots of talking about how to take a test, test strategies, process of elimination etc. This isn’t just for a couple of weeks before testing starts. This is all year starting in September.

yes, all concepts and topics not on the test are completely ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the test is a good test, then teaching to the test is one way to insure mastery of the material. If the test is a bad test, then it may be possible to do well on the test without understanding the material.

Most standardized tests are not robust to test specific prep. This is why prep courses can improve scores so much without actually teaching you anything useful.

This!

How does that apply in the context of DCPS schools?

An example of teaching to the test in DCPS is teaching kids how to type and use the mouse. Good keyboarding skills has nothing to do with your math ability, but definitely affects PARCC scores.

.
My kid is in third grade and will take the PARCC for the first time this year. Does third grade PARCc require kids to type short answers or even essays? That will be a problem. He can write,but can barey type and would simply resort to typing the minimum possible when he would write more on paper.

Life requires typing now. Would it be so terrible if your school taught to the test (i.e., teach basic typing skills) so that he could demonstrate his actual knowledge?

Sure, it's good to learn typing, but still, it's ridiculous to have a an ELA score dependent on typing for written responses in third grade. Too young and won't be an accurate reflection of actual writing language ability.

PARCC tests reading not writing. It’s one of the biggest failures of standardized testing at the elementary level. I teach in VA and they eliminated the writing SOL (PARCC Virginia version) for 5th grade several years ago and teachers stopped teaching writing. It was horrible. Now the writing sol is back and everyone is scrambling. Most students don’t even know basic grammar. Anyhow, ask your school about writing instruction. It is nonexistent in my kids DCPS.

No. There is a portion that is pure writing on the PARCC. They must read two passages and then write a multi paragraph response comparing, analyzing and sometimes they must continue the story from the point of view of one of the main characters. This is 3rd grade. It’s hard and requires a significant amount of typing and high level analysis that a lot of kids just are not ready for when they are 8

That's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the test is a good test, then teaching to the test is one way to insure mastery of the material. If the test is a bad test, then it may be possible to do well on the test without understanding the material.

Most standardized tests are not robust to test specific prep. This is why prep courses can improve scores so much without actually teaching you anything useful.

This!

How does that apply in the context of DCPS schools?

An example of teaching to the test in DCPS is teaching kids how to type and use the mouse. Good keyboarding skills has nothing to do with your math ability, but definitely affects PARCC scores.

.
My kid is in third grade and will take the PARCC for the first time this year. Does third grade PARCc require kids to type short answers or even essays? That will be a problem. He can write,but can barey type and would simply resort to typing the minimum possible when he would write more on paper.

Life requires typing now. Would it be so terrible if your school taught to the test (i.e., teach basic typing skills) so that he could demonstrate his actual knowledge?

Sure, it's good to learn typing, but still, it's ridiculous to have a an ELA score dependent on typing for written responses in third grade. Too young and won't be an accurate reflection of actual writing language ability.

PARCC tests reading not writing. It’s one of the biggest failures of standardized testing at the elementary level. I teach in VA and they eliminated the writing SOL (PARCC Virginia version) for 5th grade several years ago and teachers stopped teaching writing. It was horrible. Now the writing sol is back and everyone is scrambling. Most students don’t even know basic grammar. Anyhow, ask your school about writing instruction. It is nonexistent in my kids DCPS.

No. There is a portion that is pure writing on the PARCC. They must read two passages and then write a multi paragraph response comparing, analyzing and sometimes they must continue the story from the point of view of one of the main characters. This is 3rd grade. It’s hard and requires a significant amount of typing and high level analysis that a lot of kids just are not ready for when they are 8

Sample 3rd grader PARCC essay question asking about comparing two different stories... at an age where kids are barely starting to type well, this is just dumb.

Old Mother West Wind and the Sandwitch both try to teach important lessons to characters in the stories.

Write and essay that explains how Old Mother West Wind's and the Sandwitch's words and actions are important to the plots of the stories. Use what you learned about the characters to support your essay.