Return-Path: <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id e9QJpT922292; Thu, 26 Oct 2000 15:51:29 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 15:51:29 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <56.26d84f8.2729e465@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: KathleenBombach@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:3248] Re: Education World Newsletter Vol.4 Issue 44 X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Windows AOL sub 100 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Status: O Content-Length: 2151 Lines: 33 Tom Sticht: As the mother of children in the Texas public schools, I do want to point out that what Texas teachers are saying is true: instruction is more and more dominated by the need to do well on the tests. Teachers are under tremendous pressure to 'teach to the test' and the curriculum is changed (in how it is implemented) to improve test performance rather than general knowledge and higher order thinking. Principals are also under tremendous pressure, and things like field trips, extracurricular activities (particularly at the elementary level), community programs, tutoring other than for TAAS, etc., are being subsumed to the measures of whole school (hence teacher and principal) test performance. Teachers and students who deliver better test scores are valued, those who cannot are expendable. Programs that support test performance are valued, those that don't (like for parents and families) are disappearing. Games are played with the numbers--to the point that low performing students are allegedly discouraged by teachers to not show up on TAAS testing days. For example, my son is in special ed. Because his TAAS scores are very high, he is included in testing. Special ed students who score poorly on the TAAS are not included in testing. This is done to skew the results. So even as your explanations are correct and born out in testing research comparing criterion-referenced tests (testing curriculum-based learning) vs. normed tests of general knowledge, the phenomenon where curriculum is changed to match the test (and the narrowing of curriculum that results) does not seem to have been addressed. Likewise, the shift in school activities from gardens, science clubs, chess clubs, drama, parent-based activities, art, music, field trips, etc., to test preparation has not been looked at. For many children, it is these other activities that keep them in school. Finally, the teachers and children are really bored--affecting their morale and interest in school. Kathleen Bombach, a mother of three children who have earned degrees in 'bubbling' and test-taking in the Texas schools
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