Easier Said Than Done
- Justin Giles
- Jul 19, 2018
- 1 min read
Spending some time in current readings and ideas in the education world has highlighted a certain theme of many authors and "educational experts". The majority of them rail again the hyper focus on standardized testing in all grade levels and over-saturation of grades over learning/experience. I think I speak for most teachers when I say this; we get it! We are a part in the system of education that involve other powerful players in administration, policy makers, parents.
If we are going to make changes, the direction of the "educational experts" in the field are going to need to influence all the parts and players in the system and not just teachers. As I said before, we get it and for the most part, you are just preaching to the choir. We would love to focus on authentic assessments and learning experiences over test-prep and creative writing over the five-paragraph essay and growth in areas of interest or need over just a getting a certain letter grade.
The reality is we have the expectations put on us (at the secondary level) to "prepare" students for college/university and we are damned if we don't have students ready for the SAT's, college entrance exams and essays, but we're also damned if we don't teach the "whole-child" and develop creativity, student-driven learning experiences and the like which are not always measurable on their journey of "preparing" for college/university.
Just some rants about the rock and a hard place that teachers find themselves in when we read the current literature from experts in the field of education.
Justin, I was also thinking about this over the past few days. I especially was thinking about this in my own context of teaching an AP course and preparing students for the exam. While I don't see the AP exam as the same ballpark as the SATs and Keystone exams, I do feel the need to reflect on the extent to which I am "teaching to the test" when time constraints feel extremely tight.
Another group of people who see and feel the issues surrounding standardized testing? The students! Teachers and students both understand the flaws in this type of testing and impact these high stakes exams are having on their learning. The group I think we educators really need to work to convince is the parents. Parents hold more power than they may think in this system. With enough support, small groups of parents can begin to make big changes in this area.