Teach what you will test…this was mentioned more than a few times in my Education classes in college. It would seem to be a self-evident, no-brainer type thing to have to say (over and over again, as it happened at school). Since then I have seen some things that make me want to emphasize this maxim even more.

I have seen two different types of not testing what you teach. First, there are tests written by teachers which, if only by implication, utilize methods and practices that are never covered in classrooms. This pertains to a certain category of what I would call ‘trick’ questions. By trick I mean presenting a question in a multiple choice test which is only (correctly) answered by means of inferences and logical deductions that were never covered or even mentioned in class. It’s perfectly fine if a teacher uses a variety of logical, grammatical, and syntactical legerdemain in a classroom situation, and in that case to even add some of these in a test would be appropriate at times. On the other hand, I have seen multiple choice questions written by teachers…obviously at the end of a long evening of test preparation finally come to the idea that this will make sure that the students will really have to work to get an A. I have been on the receiving end of this sort of practice even when I was in middle school (so long ago that it was called junior high school!). Some things don’t really change.

The other problem which I see (and have seen, even in the 1960’s!), is the prospect of being tested for something which was not actually taught. This isn’t quite a bad as it sounds, but it is certainly a slippery slope. As an example of this, imagine that you are in a classroom where the teacher hands out several pages of information (which you are expected to read at home), and then in the next day’s classes, you would be expected to use this newfound information to fill in a worksheet which would have been passed out in class as soon as you arrive in class…in all of this situation the teacher only passes out paper…nothing else! In some ways, this certainly feels like a teacher is merely ‘telegraphing it in’, in the sense that literally anyone could have taught that particular class.

There are many teaching specialties (math, science, various vocational subjects, etc.) which have obvious ways to verify that a student has mastered some particular skill, be it doing vector mathematics, rationalizing an inequality, or accurately following the steps in a middle school science experiment. The real problem lies (mostly) with the areas which are more filled with language (social studies, English, and humanities and the arts…). Here there is much more ‘murk’ regarding what is testable, and how to test for it.

In any case, this may be the first of a series of posts detailing some concepts which relate to this concept of testing what you teach. You might be surprised to see that there are some ‘big’ concepts lying out there that tie in to this little problem. Some of these ideas that are related (and will be discussed) are:

· ‘teaching for the test’

· State standards

· Just what is important to know?

· Have things changed that much?

· How much does technology tie into this?

These posts may be covering some of the topics which seem to engender the most frustration from parents and students (I know it these topics were related to many of my frustrations as a student, way back then…). Consequently, I need to get a hand on this to be an effective teacher (and sadly enough, there are a few out there who need it worse!).

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