Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Guest Column

Teaching to the test is wrong and must go

By GREG BIANCE
Published November 30, 2006

We all grew up with national testing every year. Those moments in time were not the fondest of my childhood, and I am sure the stomach acid flowed through many people across the nation.

Such aptitude tests set only one bar, but not a bar that measures the wide array of talents an individual might possess. So when the business leaders in the 1990s lobbied politicians to create laws, they sold their narrow-minded deal. These mandates have negatively affected our students, teachers and the very essence of what learning is all about. Keep your myopic test, but the attached hype and the mentality of the has to go!

Many people gripe about the state of assessment and evaluation we now experience, but few act on the change needed to get back to the basics of real school, not a business school we currently model. Schools are not production plants, our students are not products to reject or keep, and teachers are not robots following recipes toward disaster.

I have been spewing my personal philosophical beliefs for the last 15 years when I got word that the business model was in the future of Florida. This slow and insidious cancer that spread in Florida is in place. It appears to be slowly destroying the spirit of most in direct contact with education. The profound love of learning is under attack, and restoration should be our quest.

The arts have been under scrutiny and their heads are considered to roll as the dollars outweigh the value. Value is in the hands of the beholder.

Has the last opus been written, and will the final shop and agriculture classes be put out to pasture? Will expensive science lab experiences continue to be replaced with cost-saving book strategies? Let's take all good practices away from kids and bore them to tears with basic test prep. As eyes roll to the back of students' heads, many teachers often question these same mandates as they sterilize education.

The bottom line now is data tracking, compulsive behavior initiatives, and somewhere in the middle a good teaching practice should occur. I do not think so! So you move some kids up a few points, but the omission of pride, fulfillment or the joy of learning is lacking?

Those who test well appear to have the best aptitude in obtaining mastery, but are not always as successful in life. This philosophy assures that the smartest are most successful and fails to recognize the varied strengths buried in each individual. The brightest might interpret test passages and calculate with great ease, but some lack common sense or desire to work.

Missing big picture

Many students will show varying degrees of mastery, and they always have and always will. If all of Florida teachers' energy is placed on students through micro-management in order to gain a few points, won't we miss the boat on the big picture of educating our youth? This is why I have a problem with teaching to the test or the numbers. This wasted energy measures only one aspect of a child. Unfortunately, if we apply this statistical tracking to the whole student profile, when would effective teaching ever occur? There is no time to teach effectively now.

The real picture of success is hidden in one's internal makeup, maybe genes that could be difficult to quantify. Quantification paralleled with dollars is the primary buzz in education these days, and I believe this is wrong. If all is contingent upon student testing performance on one test, then something smells bad in the kitchen. Some students have natural gifts in one area and struggle in another. Are they failures? No, as long as they are truly working to their potential.

Achieving a student's potential is a great challenge to educators in current times. Some of it is internal, but external factors alter results. Positive traits can be nourished by two important players in a teaching role. Parents and teachers are the key to directing children to be the best that they can be as they seek their potential. We don't chuck the whole curriculum because some parents have not pushed for their child to try hard. Why kill the spirit of challenges in learning new material?

Good parenting vital

I believe the role of good parenting is absolutely No. 1. Simply guide the parents in need. I would rather see Florida's energy and direction placed on helping struggling families get tools in raising a productive child. Teach them strategies to make a difference. Our severe cases could get mandatory day or night classes in order to move this challenging group. I believe if we fix the family, we have a better chance of fixing the child.

This is the same hidden group targeted by design to be affected by the . It is this excessive energy targeting the bottom population that has helped education lose the incentives for the greater masses in the middle and upper range. I am sure the political powers above will not admit this reality, but the proof is in the pudding served.

Children will naturally stratify among the masses, and so be it. I want Johnny to make a strong weld on my car. I want our environment to be protected and look similar over a century. I want inventors to think outside the box. I want mathematical thinkers to engulf in the precision of sheer numbers. I cannot expect all students to be good in the one-test system, but currently the mathematical thinker and the best interpreter of passages gets the highest score.

Robots spawn robots

If the plan is to shift entirely to the technical market and embrace only computer technology, then the current robotic teaching will prepare our future for robotic work and robotic mentality.

Variety in approach and balance are key to securing the brightest future. The business investor often states, Never put your investments or eggs all in one basket. Isn't that what we are doing when we take a linear approach to assessment, measurement and achievement? America's past was not built on one-dimensional thinking, but a creative approach to problem solving. Why are we constantly trying to reinvent the wheel? If love and support are the foundation, then won't the outcome be the best that it could be?

Pride of good work

The only important initiative that will work is to remove these compulsive behaviors and simplify to the basics. Make pride of good work to be the guiding light. All this other stuff is a waste of time, and too much is lost in this current system. Business lobbyists steered politicians who developed these new laws, theoretical designers suggest to Department of Education to send to school districts, who interpret and redesign, to send to principals who direct teachers to convey the perfect vehicle to teach the kids.

I know I should be teaching, and it is a shame that I could not conform to the new and improved environments. In the simple book Who Moved My Cheese, the system would want you to believe that I was Hem and not willing to bend. It was not about staying in the box and exploring the maze. It was more about a totally different maze. It needs goals and objectives as criteria, but nurtures creativity in the design of curriculum. Creative teaching inspires creative minds. Hands-on teaching allows exploration of ideas as children construct knowledge.

The increase in methodology to teach to a test is like handcuffing an artist in front of a canvas. My canvas was not to paint to the numbers set, but that is what evolves from the numbers game. You may get pretty results, but it was not inspiring when pride in a creation is involved. If teachers cannot practice and create, how will the children get the experience? Generally, they will not.

Spirit is waning

In the last few years, it was always the state-this, the laws-that, and the system will always win in this dialogue. The spirit and hope of many teachers and children is truly waning. It is easy to discard this expression as negative or burned out, but the truth is if many feel it, could it have validity? The truth will set you free to a degree, but sometimes it hurts to realize it. The power is in the people to make changes as the last election proclaimed this voice. Education's voice could be just as loud.

As I watched the negatively alter schools, my heart needed a short break from this opposing philosophy. After experiencing a middle school science curriculum change, and then the approach and delivery system evolve for testing purposes, I needed to regroup and think why I chose teaching 25 years ago. I have recharged my batteries during this year off. The adage says: "If the mountain won't come to you, then you must go to the mountain." It is wiser to match your talents with similar agendas.

After research, I will find a school district or state with a junior high approach to science. My research has discovered a universe with parallel ideas. The only battle left is to continue to educate people outside education to the realities that students and teachers face every day. Action speaks louder than words, and it is time for the mentality to go!

Greg Biance of Inverness is a former Teacher of the Year for Citrus County.

[Last modified November 29, 2006, 20:12:06]