Testing Limits

Readers have no doubt heard the mantra “teaching to the test,” the term of art for a pedagogical strategy that has achieved prominence as a response to the efforts of the Bush and Obama administrations to initiate public school accountability through standardized testing. Teaching to the test seems to have a wide range of meanings and connotations. For example, in Ed Speak, a glossary of education terms, phrases, buzzwords, and jargon by Diane Ravitch, we find this simple definition:

teaching to the test: The practice of devoting extra time and attention in the classroom to the skills and knowledge that will be assessed on the district or state test.1

Some perspectives on this buzz phrase give it a positive gloss:

States should delineate what students should know and be able to do, teachers should match instruction to those