This discussion of "teaching to the test", particularly widely standardized
tests like the AP and IB has been interesting. Would any of the high school
teachers on the list be interested in writing a guest commentary on this
issue for The Irascible Professor? I have a feeling that "input from the
trenches" on this issue would be of value to a wider audience.
-----Original Message-----
From: Digby Willard [mailto:dwillard@MAIL.CENTRAL.STPAUL.K12.MN.US]
Sent: Tuesday, February 29, 2000 8:46 AM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Re: Teaching to the test
I prep students for both IB and AP tests. I don't particularly like
teaching to the test, but it comes with the job I have, and I do
particularly like the kids I get.
The tests do have value in several ways.
-The tests are beyond my control. This is not completely a good thing, of
course, because it means I make a lot of choices on what to cover based on
what's on the test as opposed to what I think my students would really
benefit from. But the the external aspect of the test removes a lot of the
game-playing that can go on when the teacher is the one who writes the
test, and gets through to a lot of students that they have to actually
study the material and understand it.
-Students who review for the tests understand many things better than they
did the first time through, and start to see connections they didn't see
before. This is probably the most valuable benefit from teaching toward an
external test.
-Students get a sense from their test score a sense of how good they are at
physics in relation to to other high school students. This is more true of
the AP test than the IB test.
I find that I enjoy teaching most when I just take a "the hell with the
test" attitude most of the year, and then deal with the test in late April
and early May, rather than focus on test prep throughout the year. My
students also enjoy it quite a bit more, from what I can tell.