Have you read the comments to this post? If not, you should scroll through. You’ll find a slew of emotions. It is well worth checking out — especially Ryan’s comment, where he shares a speech by Lester Laminack.
I thought I was done blogging about standardized testing, but then I heard this comment today:
Standardized tests are a hoop we must jump through. They are not the end-all-be-all to education, but if we don’t jump through the hoop of passing standardized tests, we’re not going to be doing much else. This is the state of education today. Teachers are going to be evaluated according to students passing and failing standardized tests. Our students need to pass.
After tumbling this around in my brain all day, I think I agree with this statement. The trouble is when teachers (whether by choice or by force) begin teaching to the test. Giving students lots of test prep in the form of “read this passage and answer the following questions;” or “write to this prompt” will not help students pass the test.
We ought to be teaching students the standards at their point of need. In the case of language arts, this means teaching students how to think. It’s about helping students to find their personal writing processes; learning the craft of writing, as well as Standard English; giving strategies for discerning tricky words; and supporting students in using the metacognition strategies to become proficient readers.
In a nutshell it’s putting into practice best practice research via Reading and Writing Workshop. It’s continuing to expect more than menial work out of students. It’s applying our experience, knowledge, and research to this data-driven world we now teach in. It’s trusting students to delve into understanding.
Most importantly, it’s about keeping the faith in our students being sophisticated readers, writers, and thinkers.
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I agree with you wholeheartedly however, in my district we are being forced to teach “like” the test so that we can make sure that our students are receiving it all, even when it is not the point of need. If we could just get the workshop model to look more like the basal model then perhaps the state would be more apt to allow that fully. Teachers are being faced with more and restrictions that are placed upon them as educators and they are not allowed to use their professional judgement like we have been in the past. It is not what is best for our children, it is what is best for getting the financial assistance that we need to keep our schools up and running. That is our state of affairs at the present moment.
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