<p>Teachers teach to the test because that is what administrators ask them to. Curriculum control is more and more out of teacher’s hands–it’s being standardized along with the tests. Administrators follow the bottom line–test pass rates and graduation rates. Everything is ordered around those. Students of different skill level are lumped together in one class (everyone but Honors/AP track in our HS.) Teachers are told to “differentiate instruction”–but this is what is meant: they are to discern who would have been on a “lower” track; teach them at that level in the same class with the academic track, expect less, and grade them on what is expected. there are students in the non-Honors track who test at severely developmentally delayed, but any differences in expectation are to be eliminated or hidden.</p>
<p>No one can fail–tests and homework are to be allowed to be done over until passing.<br>
Guess what–the students have found this out. They also know that the state tests test the school, not them. They have no incentive to do well on them–and why should they?</p>
<p>None of this is decided by the teacher in the classroom. They are told to follow the scripts.</p>
<p>And i can see the difference. I’ve taught freshman comp for 25 years. The ability to think critically and be personally responsible for accomplishing their work is waning. The requests for hand-holding, do-overs, etc. are rampant. Plagiarism is, also. </p>
<p>Freshman comp is a huge surprise to students who have done very little writing that is not formulaic (the ubiquitous 5 paragraph, 3 example essay which are utterly different from what is asked of them in college comp.) But teachers don’t invent that out of thin air; they teach it because that’s what the tests want.</p>
<p>Xiggi–the dumbing down of curriculum tracks the rise of standardization. College courses are not looking for standardized abilities. We need to see accomplished, thoughtful critical thinkers–but the changes since NCLB work completely against that–and these changes are top down–from the ED department to administrators and finally to the teachers who are taxed with carrying them out and assigned specific curriculums to do so.</p>
<p>And the effect is truly sobering. I appreciate the “warning” but it was unnecessary–I see it every day.</p>