Do charters "teach to the test"
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Anonymous
| In your experience? Charters like MV, Stokes, CMI, etc |
Anonymous
| Our school does not, can't speak to others. |
Anonymous
| Certainly not at ITS |
Anonymous
| KIPP does. |
Anonymous
| What exactly does "teaching to the test" look like? |
Anonymous
| This seems like a phrase that is thrown around to explain why a school's students are not performing well on standardized tests. It is being discussed on the maryland forum to justify why school scores are declining. |
Anonymous
| LAMB doesn't. |
Anonymous
Did your child attend KIPP? Are you a teacher or former teacher at KIPP? |
Anonymous
| During class time, YY does not teach to the test. However, six weeks prior to the test, test preparation is available after school. I look at as mini-BarBri. |
Anonymous
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Of course they do. ALL public schools do this to some extent and anyone who claims otherwise is delusional. Any public school curriculum is eventually matched with the NCLB test that will be administered that year.
Is this really in dispute? Some schools spend more time (KIPP) than others (Janney). Some schools pack it all in in a cram session right before DCCAS and spend the rest of the year doing "autonomous" stuff. I would imagine that those posters claiming their schools doesn't "teach to the test" (CM, ITS, whatever) have the model that does what it want until it's time to hunker down and cram for a defined period. That's why it doesn't seem overt to you, new parents. |
Anonymous
| CCPCS historically did not - this year there was a lot more focus on test prep. |
Anonymous
Do you feel like if you call people new parents it makes you feel like you have more information? As an "old" parent I can tell you our charter does not teach to the test, which is why we switched to it. Second, I'm thrilled to have new and innovative parents who are motivated to help with the education movement. It seems silly that you mock people who want to get involve and help make things better. Don't you think? |
Anonymous
So let us understand here -- how do the children get the information and skills necessary to score proficient on the DCCAS in sufficient numbers for the school to stay operational? If the school decided next year to stop teaching math for 36 months -- any math at all -- and spend those hours instead on sudoku or community service, and the kids predictably bombed the DCCAS, and the parents were all satisfied with this development because they value community service over math themselves .... what do you think would happen at higher levels? Could this scenario continue indefinitely for 10, 15 years, where the school doesn't "teach" [any material that's on the math portion of] "the test," the parents are supportive, and the DCCAS Proficient scores slip under 10% Would the school retain its charter, in this extreme hypothetical scenario created to make a point? It would not. |
Anonymous
It means spending more time teaching kids how to answer questions related to passage than actually reading books and discussing them. It means teaching kids the algorithms and tricks versus building deep conceptual understanding in math. It means drilling kids over and over on the problem types and test language versus teaching them how to be critical thinkers. You see lots of packets of problems and drills. You hear chants of mnemonics. You see kids all solving math problems the same exact way. |
Anonymous
Yuck. Not at a charter, but no, our DCPS does not teach that way -- not even remotely. I can only imagine the uproar if they did!! |