Teaching to Only the Test

Teaching to Only the Test

Kristina Dakas

Reading about Standardized testing it brought me back to when I was preparing and taking the ACT. I am a student who gets good grades, but I work hard for those grades. The answers to questions don’t just come to me without having to think about it for a while. I work hard to get the grades I do and work harder then a lot of other students to find the correct answer.  This book says that standardized tests help teacher’s track students to see what level of education they should be placed in. Volunteering at an after school program I hear a lot about what kind of things they are learning in school. A couple weeks ago the major discussion was about taking the PARCC Exam.  The kids were talking to me about how they didn’t try at all on this exam. Me being a future teacher explained to them that they should try their best on these exams. Telling them that it wont affect their grades now, but will affect where they are placed and what classes they will be placed in the future, all they heard was that it wasn’t being counted as a great. I think that if teachers and the state want correct results for this exam they need to figure out a new way. Either don’t have the teachers explain to the kids beforehand that it isn’t going to matter what they get on it, or evaluating them in some other way. Having a test to decide what classes a child should be in, personally I don’t think that’s fair. I took the ACT many times to try and get the score that I thought I deserved. I studied hard but continued to receive the same score. I shouldn’t be categorized as a poor student because I am not a good test taker. If these questions were presented to me in a different way, I could have done better and have been placed where I belong.  When teachers get their students ready for these standardized tests, they aren’t really teaching these kids. They teach these kids strategies to beat the system and to find out the correct answer without actually learning anything. If they want these exams to be beneficial they need to make sure the kids are learning something from them as well. The teachers only want themselves to look better in the situation, because of the kids get high scores then the teachers look better from that school. Based on an article I found on Education.com they explained this as “teaching to the test”. They explained that the teachers are only teaching the material on what will be on these exams and teaching how to pick the correct multiple-choice answer. As we discussed in class, it was shown that school tracking was not helping disadvantages students. Students who have certain disadvantages, weather its not having a parent who is willing to help them learn, or have a trouble living situation, or maybe even a disability, the school tracking causes these children to end up in a lower track.  This then can lead to them acting out causing violence in the school environment.  In our book and the lecture it talks about how schools need to teach discipline because it might not be taught at home. I agree and disagree with this statement.  I agree with this statement because many kids are treated differently at home, which makes them act out in the classroom. If their parents never punish them or let them know what they are doing wrong they will never know the appropriate way to act. When they come to school this is a good place to teach them what an appropriate behavior is in certain situations. I also disagree with this however. If a child is always told yes, and s babied at home and then comes to school and gets disciplined it could make the student feel uncomfortable and confused. Teachers need to make sure they find a good discipline that goes with student’s personality and home life. Going back to my volunteering children. I have some students who are the only child and act differently then the other kids. Some of the kids are all right with being told no, or being disciplined for acting out, when others do not take well to the criticism or rules. I have to find a medium way to make sure these children understand what I am looking for in them and how they need to behave. I found an article on parenting.com that shows how teachers can discipline different students and what strategies to use for them. Reading through these shows me that each student may need a different discipline strategy.

Sources:

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Test_Problems_Seven/

http://www.parenting.com/gallery/13-discipline-tricks-from-teachers?page=1

http://www.news-press.com/story/news/education/2014/08/20/opt-out-petition-gathering-signatures/14357851/