Re: Teaching to the test

[Arlyn DeBruyckere <arlynd@HUTCH.K12.MN.US>]

"Richard W. Tarara" wrote:

> Here's my anecdote concerning 'teaching to the test'.

SNIP

> That worked well early on when the workshops were filled with more
> experienced teachers.  In fact, I had a couple come back for a second year
> to 'get some more of the same.'  However, in later years, with the
> population of the workshops tending towards the younger, less experienced
> teachers, I found that ALL they wanted to do was to learn HOW TO TEACH TO
> THE TEST.  My efforts to stress that they needed to teach a GOOD,
> College-Level course (and what that entailed) fell on deaf ears.  Finally,
> out of frustration, I gave up and have not taught the workshop for the past
> three years.

In Minnesota we even encourage teaching to the test.  If a student here gets a
"5" on a AP test the teacher gets check for $50, $25 for a "4".  That is for
each student, and our district just decided to match this because "it is a form
of merit pay", of course only the teachers who teach an AP class even have the
opportunity to get this "merit pay".


--
Arlyn DeBruyckere
Hutchinson High School