[AAACE-NLA]AAACE-NLA Digest, Vol 53, Issue 16

[tsticht@znet.com]

Kearney: You asked: Where is the evidence that children have been subjected
"to hours of drill and practice in test taking rather than engaging in
learning important content and skills"?

Answer: The Teacher's Network is one organization that has surveyed teachers
to find out about how they react to NCLB. One of the items of a recent
survey of some 4600 teachers across the nation was "To prepare for
state/district testing, I spend a lot of time teaching my students
test-taking skills" and 78 percent said they agree or strongly agree with
that statement. This translates into thousands of hours spent on
test-taking preparation rather than engaging in learning important content
and skills. Eighty-five percent of teachers agreed with the statement, "I
spend a lot of time teaching my students content that I know will be on the
state/district test." Most (69 percent) of the teachers agree that they do
not teach critical thinking, 79 percent do not teach in student-centered
ways, 75 percent do not emphasize deep understanding, eighty-two percent
have eliminated curriculum material that is not tested.

Kearney: You rephrased your question as, "That is, where is the evidence
that neither NAEP nor a state-specific standardized test accurately
assesses the mastery of important content and skills, whether directly or
indirectly?"

Answer: This is actually a different question, not a rephrasing of the first
question. At any rate, a better question, I think, is where is the evidence
that either the NAEP or a state-specific standardized test accurately
assesses the mastery of important content and skills directly or
indirectly?  None of the tests specify the content being assessed in
specific (e.g., reading literature by author and title, reading some
specific scientific information, reading some specific history texts, etc),
nor do the tests report anything other than level, e.g., below basic, basic,
intermediate, proficient. The NAEP/state tests clearly do not assess these
levels the
same way with the same definitions of the different levels. So in actuality
it is not clear just what is being assessed, directly or indirectly.

I hope this is helpful.

Tom Sticht