The Downside of Teaching to the Test

As a teacher who has 41 years of experience with classes from seventh grade through the graduate level, I can assure Jay Mathews that, despite his experience as a student of education, he missed why teachers dislike being forced to "teach to the test":

They dislike having others decide what is worthy of being tested and having the tests dictate what subject content is appropriate for all students.

I never used a test made by another party because no one else was precisely aware of what I had taught. Teaching requires selectivity because it is impossible to include all that is available and worthy of inclusion.

Teacher and student alike have little room for personal interest and creativity when education is test-driven. In addition, as the pressure of standardization increases, the love of knowledge for its own sake inevitably diminishes. We have other good ways to determine the extent and depth of what a student has learned.

ALLAN POWELL

Hagerstown

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As an experienced educator I have deep concerns about standardized testing.

First, the organization that composes most U.S. standardized tests is one large, hugely profitable corporate entity. Competition in the American standardized testing business is almost nonexistent, which is undesirable in a free society seeking quality and accountability. In the past several years the federal government has embraced this monolithic corporation to lead the way in creating some facsimile of national educational norms.