Re: Teaching to the test

["Richard W. Tarara" <rtarara@SAINTMARYS.EDU>]

Here's my anecdote concerning 'teaching to the test'.  For a number of years
I ran an intensive, one-week, workshop for HS physics teachers preparing to
teach the AP Physics-B course.  My approach was to recognize that the
purpose of the AP course was to present a college-equivalent course (Algebra
level for Physics-B) so that students mastering the material (as accessed by
the test) might be granted College credit or have required courses waived at
the College of their choice.  In that approach, I was always much more
concerned that the teachers really understood what was currently being
taught at the College level (including info from our PER friends) and that
they were really comfortable with teaching problem solving than exactly what
the AP tests might ask.  What the workshops tended to concentrate on were
methods of teaching problem solving and those areas of the Physics B
curriculum that teachers hadn't normally taught--especially Modern Physics
topics.  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.


Rick

*********************************************
Richard W. Tarara
Associate Professor of Physics
Department of Chemistry & Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
219-284-4664
rtarara@saintmarys.edu

Free Physics Instructional Software
Win9x, Win3.x, Dos, Mac, PowerMac versions.
Details at  www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Ludwik Kowalski" <KowalskiL@MAIL.MONTCLAIR.EDU>


> Digby Willard wrote:
>
> > 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. ....
>
> What is the opposite of "teaching to the test"? It is testing for what
> we teach. And how do we decide what to teach (or what to skip)?
> Should it be up to an individual teacher? Why yes or why not?
> When yes and when not? The number of topics which can be
> presented in any discipline is much larger than what can possibly
> be learned. How does "being guided by a textbook" differ from
> "being guided by a test"? I am referring to a test that somebody
> else will give to students, and whose exact content is unknown.
>
> My position is to lean on a textbook (presumably representing the
> prevailing opinion of experts) and select what I personally think
> is important and useful to students. Test and quizzes are composed
> (by me only) to test how well that material was assimilated. Their
> primary role, however, is to motivate students.
> Ludwik Kowalski