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The Downside of Teaching to the Test
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Second, what are we testing? As we continue to gather scientific and anecdotal evidence indicating that we all learn in different ways, who is to say that any one, two or three ways should dominate the tests? How can one test be sufficient to determine the depth of learning for hundreds of thousands of diverse students? Further, it is difficult to prove that success on the current bevy of standardized tests equates to success in college or beyond.
Finally, a relative who teaches elementary school in California tells of teachers who only grudgingly accept students who don't speak English because such students lower the class average on standardized tests and reflect negatively on the teachers' job evaluation. She also laments that time taken to teach to the test has forced her school to reduce or eliminate time for art, music and other activities that encourage talents to emerge and allow teachers to better understand their students.
KIRK DUNCAN
Atlanta
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The Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) test is a multiple-choice instrument that spits back the student's measure in one day. It is unlike the International Baccalaureate (IB) or Advanced Placement (AP) tests, which require educators to read extended essays and pages of student thinking.
If Jay Mathews was suggesting that Virginia state exams take on the qualities of AP and IB exams, I am all for that. But remember that the essay portion of the SAT is only 25 minutes because more writing was determined to be too costly to assess.
SIDNEY BROWN
Alexandria
The writer teaches English at Edison High School in Alexandria.
