Lies ELA Teachers Tell Themselves - #4: "Sometimes you just have to teach to the test."

I'm so guilty of this lie!  I'm convinced that the last two tasks on the New York State ELA Exam students take in the 11th grade are so peculiar to the exam, you have no other choice but to teach to the test.

But, deep down, I know this is not true.  I know if I teach my students to be good readers and writers, they should do well on either of those tasks.  Just because the format is peculiar doesn't mean the skills are.  They still need to be able to determine the audience and purpose for what they write.  They still need to be able to organize their thoughts in a coherent fashion and communicate those thoughts in a manner appropriate to their audience.  If they can do this (among other things, of course), they should have no problem. 

We focus so much on the types of writing that we want students to do (especially taking into consideration the forms of writing tested on state exams) that we ignore the basic writing skills that should apply to any form - whether it is on the test or not.  Good teaching is good teaching and teaching to the test - no matter how much we think it is necessary - is not good teaching.  We need to push ourselves and do our jobs - we need to find ways to teach these skills and not bore our students to death with endless test prep.

A colleague of mine last year who will be teaching 11th grade (and supposedly preparing kids for the exam) said she was going to start on the first day and just drill that test into them until they took it in January.  Oh boy, I thought to myself.  I can't imagine anything worse.  But, I admit that I wasn't stepping up to volunteer to teach the class, so I kept that little thought to myself.  The reason I don't volunteer for that assignment (and I had been asked by many people on the staff to do so) is that I couldn't bring myself to teach to the test, but I was unsure in my own teaching skills that I could teach the skills for the test in an interesting fashion and get the kids to pass.  It's a challenge I'm just not ready for and a gamble I'm not willing to make.

It is difficult.  It really is.  And with such pressure put on us and the students about these tests - our jobs and their graduation are on the line - I don't blame anyone for saying that sometimes you have to teach to the test.  The underlying problem is not the teachers or students, it is the people who design and require these tests in the first place.  By making the tests the end all and be all of education, we are lowering standards of teaching and learning.  The end result will be adults who can do really well on tests, but are not prepared for the real world of solving problems, comprehending real texts that don't have multiple choice questions at the end, or writing to suit the audience and purpose, not some silly form of writing invented by a test maker.

While I sympathize with the people who speak this lie and admit to uttering it myself, we must all recognize that it is a lie.  We cannot let our children become victims of the current political trends and lower our standards of teaching and learning.  And, because doing real teaching and learning and preparing students for tests are sometimes at odds, we need to stick together and work together to create curriculum that is interesting and will truly help our student - not just pass a test, but to succeed in life.   Students learn what we teach them and if we only teach to the test, we are setting our students up for failure in the world after tests.

Comments

[Nicole]

Hi Tim,

I've been reading your blog for a while, but I'm just starting to write comments. Thanks for all the great informative and impassioned postings about teaching. I really enjoy reading what you write and am often inspired by it.

As far as teaching to the test goes, I too, have often been guilty of this. Not only is it what the administration wants us to do, it is what the students ask for and expect.

Nonetheless, I try hard to teach my students to be good readers and writers, no matter what the situation. It works to varying degrees of success (but what doesn't?) I am strictly opposed to drilling students on old exams and multiple choice questions though. If I think it's stupid, why should I teach it?