Reply to What does "teaching to the test" really mean?

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Reply to "What does "teaching to the test" really mean?"

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[quote=Anonymous]I think it very much depends on what school level you are talking about, as well as what test is being taught to.

I think teaching to the test at the elementary level generally is just making sure kids are actually learning foundational skills in reading, writing, and math. As long as the school is well rounded and is also offering the arts, physical education, and other valuable instruction, and is a warm and welcoming place for kids, I don't actually mind if the curriculum is geared toward ensuring students can perform well on a test like PARCC. It's a way of ensuring some baseline knowledge, which is really valuable in ES.

I have mixed feelings about the practice in MS and HS. My observation is that this can make school at these levels really unpleasant for a lot of kids. Also, there are aspects of education at the HS level, in particular, that are very hard to test for on standardized tests. For math and reading comprehension? Sure, a test is going to usefully evaluate your skill level. For writing and critical thinking, it's much harder to do, and kids can learn to write test responses that satisfy the testing rubric enough to score well, without actually acquiring strong writing and critical thinking skills. A school that is unaware of this weakness in testing at this level would concern me. That doesn't me I don't think they should teach to the test, but it means that they better be teaching beyond the test as well.[/quote]

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