Ms. Frizzle - "I teach to the test"

I'm a fan of Ms Frizzle and quote her often here. So I'm not surprised to hear her articulate a position close to my own about the benefits of standardized testing. I'll let her explain: Ms. Frizzle: Since you asked...

A reader emailed me a copy of his article, A Response to Jay Mathews' 'Let's Teach to the Test' from the Real World of Teaching, and asked me what I thought. Honestly, I mostly agree with Mr. Mathews. For starters, I absolutely agree that the phrase "teach to the test" is thrown around without a lot of clarity about what this sort of teaching looks like in real-life.

I work in New York City: trust me, I have seen the bad kind of "teaching to the test." I've read Mr. E's complaints about his school's policy of "all test prep, all the time." […] I think this kind of "teaching to the test" is awful. It's boring for both students and teachers, it replaces projects that ask the kids to engage with material and take pride in their work, and it is a stop-gap measure that allows schools to avoid punitive policies without necessarily resulting in the kids learning a whole lot that will help them outside of test-land.

That said, I "teach to the test."

There, I've said it. I do.

Did that catch your attention? Good. Go read the whole post. It's worth it! She captures both the value of a measured, limited testing regime and the pitfalls. She does omit any mention of SpEd kids and other sorts of learning differences and how those variables play out (badly) against the testing orthodoxy. But from my experience with my kids, I think she nails it.