Title: What's so bad about teaching to the test? | Parenting
Headings: What’s so bad about teaching to the test?
What’s so bad about teaching to the test?
Is teaching to the test bad?
No Child Left Behind puts testing on the front burner
It’s all about alignment
Some test-taking skills are important to learn
Tests can be used as diagnostic tools
Focus on the tests brings attention to state standards
When there isn’t alignment, there are problems
Where does teaching critical thinking fit in?
Is there too much emphasis on the tests?
High stakes mean high risks
Tests are here to stay
Questions to ask at your school

Content: Howard Everson, formerly with the College Board and currently professor of psychometrics at Fordham University, sees problems with these non-aligned state tests: “ Many of the large-scale assessments (state tests) are too far removed from curriculum and instruction. They don’t provide enough information back to the classroom. And the state agencies are not quite sure how to deal with the problem. “They’re reliant on testing contractors and restrained by budget. It’s expensive to align testing with curriculum and they are not willing to make the investment. They want something cheap, which is not necessarily good. They cut and paste parts of tests used in other states. To create good tests, they need to involve teachers and give them release time from the classroom to help create tests, and that becomes very expensive for states to do that properly.” Test results alone don’t tell the whole story, notes Raymond.