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

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[quote=Anonymous]I used to prepare students for the Virginia Writing SOL. For honors students I'd just say, hey, remember to read carefully and check your work. But for my "standard" classes where there were learning disabilities, English language learners, etc., we would spend a whole month doing practice questions. And yes, I'd teach them strategies like if it's asking which sentence is worded the best and you're not sure, pick the shortest answer. I was often praised by the principal for having higher test scores than other teachers.

No, I didn't become a teacher to teach to a BS test, but my students needed to pass to graduate and if it was all going to come down to a question or two, I was going to help them the best I could. I remember two brothers from West Africa. The older brother didn't have a chance of passing. The younger brother squeezed by with a 403 or whatever the lowest passing grade was that year. He played football and went on to college. He needed to pass that test. Was he a proficient writer? Well, maybe not. But I'm only one person and I did what I could for my students. I'll never forget how I called him up to my desk to tell him his score, and he turned around halfway and said, "I know I didn't pass . . ." and I said, "Oh, you didn't want to hear that YOU PASSED THE SOL?!?!?" and he was so happy.[/quote]

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