Teaching+To+The+Test

toc Katlin Strand, Kelly Nesbitt, Rita Malek, Cayla Olynyk, Mary O'Neil



**// “Is This Going to be on the Test?" //**(Wiggins, 2011, p.82)

Test-based accountability programs lead teachers to feeling they have the obligation to prepare students for the exam (Slomp, 2008). This creates a culture of teachers that are basing their pedagogical choices on meeting third party obligations. According to Popham (2001) teaching to the test includes two types of teaching: item teaching and curriculum teaching. Item teaching refers to when teachers "organize their instruction either around the actual items found on a test or around a set of look-alike items" (Popham, 2001, p.16). Curriculum teaching refers to when teachers "direct their instruction toward a specific body of content knowledge or a specific set of cognitive skills represented by a given test" (Popham, 2001, p.16). The problem with item teaching is that the cognitive demand is unchanged, whereas curriculum teaching is targeted at test represented content.

= **1.0 Why is it Happening? ** = 1) Teacher and school accountability 2) Pressure from outside stakeholders: government, taxpayers, administration, school boards, college administrators, employers 3) Monetary incentives (a topic the Alberta Government is looking into)
 * Public wants to know if students are meeting expectations and how the education budget is being spent

= **2.0 Looking into Teaching to the Test ** =

2.1 Strengths
Accountability Guides teaching Time Management Student Success
 * Teacher needs to be held responsible for student success (i.e. similar to an employment performance review)
 * Schools are using government funding to reinforce the curriculum
 * Public access to statistics rationalizes government spending on education
 * Improve planning, policy, practice and decision making
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teachers create their grading rubrics to simulate diploma exam criteria
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reduced planning time. Time normally spent test making is used elsewhere
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sets students up for success on tests and exams

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: right;">Video in the form of a song speaking to the challenges of teaching to the test <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">media type="youtube" key="d5wkJxTwXnk" height="308" width="405" align="right"

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">2.2 Challenges
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Curriculum content <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pedagogy <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Student Learning <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Stakeholder Pressure
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Content is narrowed to topics heavily weighted on the test and review
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Construct flaws in all standardized exams. Exams only assess one aspect of literacy and students are not given the opportunity to exhibit their skill set.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teacher instruction is less flexible, restricts creativity
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Unintended bias against population subgroups (Slomp, 2008, p.181)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Designed for a specific demographic and typically excludes a cultured perspective
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students only learn test strategies (memorization, recall)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students do not have problem solving skills because exam structure is not conducive to deep thinking; test structure often produces test anxiety in the students
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Government, administration and the public, places undue pressure on teachers to cover test content. What about other meaningful content such as valuable life skills and meaningful learning experiences? “Opportunities for combining fun and learning are being squeezed out by test preparation” (Higgins, Miller, Wegmann, 2006, p. 310).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pressure placed on teachers often “rubs off” onto students


 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"...challenges students to show off not merely their knowledge but their initiative,not merely their problem solving, but their problem posing, not just their learning on cue, but their ability to judge and learn how to learn on an open-ended problem, often by their own design." ** (Wiggins, 1989, p.43)

= **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">3.0 In the Classroom ** = <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">3.1 Provincial Achievement Tests & Diplomas in Alberta
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">According to the Alberta Government, the purpose of the Achievement Testing Program is to: <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Considerations of PATs <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Diploma Exams <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Considerations of Diploma Exams
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Determine if students are learning what they are expected to learn
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Report to Albertans how well students have achieved provincial standards at given points in their schooling
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Assist schools, authorities, and the province in monitoring and improving student learning
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">To provide a provincial overview of how well students in grades 3, 6, and 9 are achieving in relation to provincial standards, regardless of where or how they receive instruction.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alberta tax payer’s money goes into education, and they want to know what their money is going towards and the areas that need improvement.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Because teachers want their students to succeed, teaching to the test prepares students. However, careful considerations should be made to how much knowledge is retained.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have three main purposes:
 * 1) To certify the level of individual student achievement in selected grade 12 courses
 * 2) To ensure that province-wide standards of achievement are maintained; and
 * 3) To provide schools and districts with group results.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Final grade is 50% diploma examination mark, and 50% school-awarded mark.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Exam assesses learning outcomes in the Program of Studies that can be effectively measured in a limited time

=<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">4.0 Teaching Practices = <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">4.1 What can we do differently?
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 70%;">(Wiggins,1989, p.41)
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">"What are the actual performances that we want students to be good at, that represent model challenges? Design them by department, by school, and by district-and worry about a fair, efficient, and objective method of grading them as a secondary problem." **

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Standardized tests are a reality, however, how teachers choose to assess their portion of the grade is what they, as educators, have control over.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">We must ask different questions...
 * What kinds of challenges would be of most educational value to students?
 * What kinds of challenges would give teachers useful information about the abilities of their students?
 * How will the results of a test help students know their strengths and weaknesses on essential tasks?
 * How can a school adequately communicate its standards to stakeholders?
 * How do schools justify eliminating standardized tests?
 * How can teachers make assessment more accurate and equitable, so that it involves judgment, clarification and explanation?


 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Alberta Teachers’ Association Perspective: **
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">"...the profession maintains that teachers are ultimately responsible, both legally and professionally, for evaluating and reporting of student progress; the current emphasis on standardized testing programs does little to address the individual needs of students and diverts precious resources away from the classroom." **

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Backwards Design: Teaching to highly planned and effective assessments, keeps lessons focused, and reduces inefficiencies.
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Identify Desired Results //(What should students learn?)//
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Determine Acceptable Evidence //(How will the teacher find out if students have learned?)//
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction //(How will students learn it?)//
 * Utilizing appropriate backwards design can help teachers to diversify their teaching so that they can avoid teaching to the test.

=<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">5.0 References =
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alberta Education. (2012). Provincial Achievement Tests. Retrieved September 24, 2012, from http://education.alberta.ca/admin/testing/achievement/achievementbulletin.aspx
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alberta Teachers Association Position Papers. (2008). Curriculum, Student Assessment and Evaluation. Retrieved September 24, 2012, from http:/www.teachers.ab.ca/Pages/Home.aspx
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bushweller, K. (1997). Teaching to the Test. American School Board Journal,184(9), 20-25.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Higgins, B., Miller, M., & Wegmann, S. (2006). Teaching to the Test...Not! Balancing Best Practice and Testing Requirements in Writing. The Reading Teacher, 60(4), 310-319.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Popham, W. J. (2001). Teaching to the Test. Helping All Students Achieve, 58(6), 16-20.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Slomp, D. (2008). Harming Not Helping: The Impact of a Canadian Standardized Writing Assessment on Curriculum and Pedagogy. Assessing Writing, 13, 180-200.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wiggins, G. (1989). Teaching to the (Authentic) Test. Educational Leadership,46(7), 41-47.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wiggins, G. (2011). A True Test: Toward More Authentic and Equitable Assessment. Kappan Magazine, 92(7), 81-93.