For example on the Virginia SOL test elementary students have a section on computer science, like what is a bit, a byte, etc. Time spent teaching that should be spent teaching kids parts of speech, writing a complete sentence, and mathematics. There is a reason they call it elementary or primary school, and the reason our kids do so poorly is that we forgot that reason.
Bingo, that is exactly what they do and why many teachers hate it.
The problem is that so many of these state-mandated tests are bad. Then the schools are stuck teaching dumb stuff to kids and losing opportunities to teach the stuff that would really benefit the kids.
The solution: FIX THE TEST!
Then, teaching to the test would be exactly the right thing to do, because the test would meaure skills that we desperately want our children to have.
But it begs the question: Why are these tests so bad? And so hard to fix?
The answer: The tests are created by Teachers Unions which want the tests to be an abomination, so that little childen will suffer, so that school reform will fail, so that the unions will get more money, which will be spent to hire more administrators, who will be told to go study the problem.
Fix the tests. The rest will follow.
I agree that SOLs dumb down what is taught in order for the slower kids to be able to pass SOL tests. It is highly frustrating. One of our sons benefited greatly from having an old-fashioned teacher who made sure he learned the SOL facts, but she also forced him to WRITE, WRITE, and WRITE some more. Unfortunately, she retired last year. She was very tough on our son, but he knew she had his best interests at heart. The SOLs are so easy for him, but the things he really needs to know to succeed later in life are the things she taught him. She was so fed up with teaching SOLs.
I could go on and on about SOL lowest-common-denominator teaching. Gifted children are not having their needs met. They are better off segregated from the LCD.
I have a major go round with TPTB in our school district..not with the teacher or principal, mind you - but the district higher ups. I swear they have some authority hang up.
As one of my daughter's frustrated teacher's said to me about the problem "No child left bhind MUST include the brightest of the bright." Alas TPTB don't see it our way.
Virginia kids ARE tested on parts of speech, complete sentences and mathematics. Just because they are tested on computer technology doesn't mean they are not tested on other things.
"I think the biggest problem are the standards of learning tests. The schools are teaching to the test to get that lowest common denominator student to pass. School has become a 9 month cram session for a two day battery of tests. The tests, especially in elementary grades, test too wide a variety of subjects.
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100% true. I have some family members who are teachers. They hate how things are now geared 100% towards tests. It gives them little flexibility and freedom in how they teach their class and it helps produce a generation who is good at filling out bubble sheets, but who aren’t taught to think outside of the box and be creative. I think the current obsession with standardized testing will come back and bite us, particularly as the author points out, with the brightest kids.
High school classes are now being force-fed repeatedly the 'Standards' ignoring and stifling the hands-on creative lessons and projects that used make classes fun.
Teachers used to lose around two weeks of their year reviewing for the 'standards' tests.
Now they have been forced to make and use up to SIX other practice tests before the real test comes. Each test requires teaching time to make, and a week each to get ready for and grade it. A huge amount of time, approaching almost one quarter of a school year is being sucked away, all in the name of testing.
The testing makes administrators frantic as their state and Federal school monies will be adversely affected by low scores.
NCLB "Nickleby" as No Child Left Behind is called by teachers, is a Bush/Republican-generated program with the noble goal of taking the educational campaign issue away from the Democrats. It actually worked politically, but has done nothing for education but take away local control from local school boards, administrators, and teachers. NCLB is quenching and strangling creativity and fun in the classroom.
Add that to: State standards testing; leaven in the lowering of age of students who are into pushy blatant homosexuality; add in the rampant 'live forever' high school free-wheeling view of life, where 'fun' is all important; where there is little or no intrinsic honor, integrity, maturity, and little family inculcated work ethic; and you will see the brutal chains dragging down public (aka. government) education.
It is time to reevaluate the need for crushing state standards and NCLB. It is time to stop the suffocating governmental control over our children's education, a control that is clearly unconstitutional.