You are correct. They already do teach to the test. I have my kids in private schools because the public ones in Florida really are a joke. Jeb Bush, bless him, is a great governor who really wants a better educational system for the kids of Florida, but the FCAT is failing because the teachers are only teaching to the FCAT. I know at our districted elementary school (we have many friends whose kids attend) that there are psychologists on school grounds the day of the FCAT to help kids who are feeling overwhelmed by the pressure. In ELEMENTARY school. Geez.
Also, we had 1 yes 1 high school in our county receive an A grade after FCAT testing. However, when looking at the numbers only 53% of kids could read at or above their grade level. If that gets you an A rating I'm afraid to see what a B school is.
I don't understand the problem with "teaching to" these comprehensive tests. The tests test their knowledge of content. Kids who don't know the subject matter will do poorly; those who do will do well. Isn't that what teaching is all about?
The problem that I see with attaching merit pay to the test results is that you have to be able to follow the kids on a multi-year basis in order to determine if the teacher made a positive contribution to a child's knowledge base. If Johnnie made a 56 last year, and under Ms. Smith's tutelage made an 82 this year, then apparently, Ms. Smith deserves a merit raise. So you would have to track all of her students' progress for this year over the last (or last several).I think the "teaching to the test problem" is really a red herring.