December 29, 2011

New Year's Challenge: stop teaching to the test

I've been reading plenty of education reform blog posts and articles recently. Not that they aren't well-written or insightful; it's just that most reiterate the same refrain: achievement tests place a stranglehold on teachers, inhibiting their effectiveness.

This may be surprising, coming from someone who is well-known for railing against standardized testing, but it's time for teachers to stop complaining that they can't be effective because they have to teach to the test!

If we stop preparing students for the test and simply teach them to be efficient learners, they will perform well on the test without additional test practice. Sounds easy enough, right? Trust me, it is.

I do no test preparation of any kind in my results-only classroom. In fact, we never take any quizzes or tests. My students read daily. They discuss real-world situations that take place in both fiction and nonfiction, and they complete remarkable projects that encompass all of our learning outcomes. They ask lots of questions and we discover the answers together.

One day prior to our state-mandated achievement test, I review what they can expect. We discuss the tricks that are on the test. Apart from this, I simply remind them that they are well prepared, because throughout the school year, they have learned everything they will need to answer the questions on the test.

If we all approach the test this way, I believe the scores will increase exponentially. Maybe if students nationwide start scoring well on these insipid tests, eventually the bureaucrats will see that there is no longer any need for them.

4 comments:

  1. Love it! That is the stance my district adopts, and it works. Unfortunately, I am leaving next year to teach in DC. The move is motivated partly by necessity (my job will be cut because of budgeting and enrollment decline) and partly by a desire to teach in the lion's den of ed reform. I don't agree with the testing/accountability movement, of course, but I am curious to see if I can successfully teach "my way" in a "troubled" urban district. I have a feeling urban students would prefer the ROLE approach to the robot approach. They are human beings after all.

    What concerns me is the increased "supervision" of teachers and teaching. DCPS assigns teachers "bundles" of the CCSS to teach every six weeks. At the end of each "unit," the district administers a standardized test to measure achievement. Never mind that teachers have no role in creating or scoring the test. That difficult task is left to an outside consultant. Teachers do get to participate in "professional development" that requires them to do item analysis to determine where their students don't measure up. Do I really need a standardized test to determine whether or not my students are learning?

    Is it possible to subvert that madness without getting fired? I just don't know. At a certain point, we have to change the system. We can't keep adapting to these mandates as they come down the pike. Eventually, we will adapt ourselves out of existence.

    Do you have any advice, Mark?

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    Replies
    1. Kelly, my advice is that we remain steadfast in our commitment to teach the right way. We need more courageous teachers like you, Al and others who often comment here -- those who are willing to do what's right, regardless of the ocean of bureaucratic reform that continually comes our way. We need to stand up and say, No, to archaic traditional teaching methods. As you are already seeing in your own classes, if we show students how to learn and then get out of their way, they'll grow into lifelong learners, which is really what's most important.

      The key is solidarity. Spread the word to your colleagues that we owe it to the students to do what we know is best -- not to teach to the test.

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