We have just finished three rounds of our state’s assessment tests, and there is one more to go. It is, as I have discussed previously, made as tedious as possible for the entire school. Then it is discussed endlessly, always concluding that they are worthless because they do nothing but encourage the dreaded “teaching to the test.” This is a term, a warning really, that I believe was coined by the teachers’ union to offer an argument against standardized testing.
Without standardized tests we do not have any real measure of what a student in a public school has learned. It is therefore imperative that the educational community encourages parents to think that these tests are invalid. Most parents have bought the argument. Start a discussion of the state of education in America, mention standardized tests, count to three, and some parent will tell you that they only encourage “teaching to the test.” Then look around and see how many heads are bobbing in agreement. The problem is really the reverse: what we thought was important to test was not taught. Our test scores reflect this. The problem with the testing is the lack of curriculum that supports the knowledge we test.
The tests aren’t perfect, neither is the teaching.
Do you think all eleventh-graders should be able to solve a simple algebra equation, that many should be able to recognize and plot simple linear equations, and that some should know about quadratic equations and the graphs that go along with them? Then put that in a test and see how many students have been taught those concepts. If I successfully teach a student these concepts, did I impart the knowledge we value or did I just teach to the test? And if I taught the knowledge we value, why are the kids not passing the test?
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