Teaching to the Test Ain’t Working

Education Reform

By Richard Martin, 8-07-07

Almost exactly one year after Denver School Superintendent Michael Bennet announced his ambitious education reform plan for the district, scores on the latest Colorado Student Assessment Program were announced. "In the eight grades that took the CSAP in 2007," the Post reports, "scores were either flat or down over all grades in almost all subjects: math, reading, writing and science."

Now, Gov. Bill Ritter has formed yet another committee to come up with yet another education reform model -- the so-called P-20 Council convened this week, even as Bennet and Denver chief academic officer Jaime Aquino were exhorting educators at the Principal Institute at the Convention Center.

Am I the only one who thinks that these two goals – true education reform that benefits students and educators, and doing well on the CSAPs – are mutually exclusive?

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.

Like to receive our print magazine, The New West? Click here for free subscription information.

By Richard Martin, 8-07-07 | comments (2) | email story | print story

Comments

By Craig Moore, 8-07-07

Richard, I feel your pain. I assume you may have kids affected by this mess. I live in another state but the problem has been much the same about teaching to the test. The test tends to require quantity over quality and the ability to assembly the puzzle pieces of information into innovative and coherent expression of knowledge. This was true for both the state test and the honors courses that may qualify for college credit depending on results from "the test." My kids are now through with all of that but their complaint was that they were not learning anything they felt was useful or taught how to learn about the subject in question. In my opinion, we need more process learning to develop a tool box of skills that enable a person to grasp the data and make sense out of it.

By Bob Wire, 8-07-07

Yeah.

Your Comment

Comment policy:

NewWest.Net encourages robust and lively, but civil participation from our readers. By posting here, you agree to the NewWest.Net terms of service. You agree to keep your comments on topic, respectful and free of gratuitous profanity. Contributions that engage in personal attacks, racism, bigotry, hatred or are otherwise patently offensive will be subject to removal.

Other than using a filter that scans for comment spam, we do not moderate contributions before they are posted and we do not review every thread, so we ask that you help us in keeping the discussions civil and appropriate. Please email info@newwest.net to notify us of comments that may violate these guidelines. Thanks for your help and cooperation. Click here for some tips on how to best interact on NewWest.Net.

Name

Remember my name and email address.

Notify me of follow-up comments.

Development News | New West Network

Education Reform