We did middle of the year testing recently. There is stress to show improvement, as any teacher on the planet knows. I am not sure whether to be ecstatic or scared....my class scored in the 90s.
I guess I am having a crisis of conscience. I didn't prompt them during the test. I didn't answer questions or give them help when they asked for it during the test. I did, however, make sure that everything I remembered being on the test was covered in class. Maybe drilled would be a better word.
I don't conisder it cheating. Anything done PRIOR to giving out the test is fair game, in my try-not-to-analyze-it-too-much mind. The ethics police, as well as some other teachers--including some of you reading this--might have a different opinion.
I have done this for a while. The pressure was too great not to. Administration handed teachers technical manuals for their grades that CONTAINED specific material to be tested. How could we NOT teach it? To me, it would be pointless not to. Isn't that what we are more or less being told to do when we are given the material?
Yes, that probably is what we are being told to do...however, if someone ends up questioned, it won't be the administrators who gave us the books. The teachers will be the fall guys. Isn't that the way the world works? I have a feeling, "But THEY gave the book to use all year, day in and day out" would fall on deaf ears of those standing in judgement, as they would all be administrators, too.
I have really been thinking about this a lot. I have talked to other teachers who do the exact same thing I do. Some feel a little guilty for it, like me; others say who cares? My concern is for the kids. Yes, the good scores get me off the hook, but does the prep that I put them through that delivers those scores harm the kids? Do the scores become inflated and kids lose out on help because I taught them what they needed to know to do well on a test? Is that really learning? Is it really indicative of their ability?
I have had really bad test scores in the past. I have been told to "get the scores up." Suggestions included giving them practice tests, presenting items in the same manner in which they would be presented on the test, and offering rewards to kids who do well on the test. After a particularly low set of scores a few years back in my grade level, all the teachers in my grade spent six hours meeting with two administrators who HELD IN THEIR HANDS actual copies of the test booklets. They gave us "similar" examples for all the questions to use with our kids. I think "teach them what they need to know" was certainly implied. So, we did. We took those similar examples, taught them, saw test scores improve, and our lives become easier. I have done the same thing ever since. Luckily, they don't change the test items very often.
Maybe I am just feeling guilty, but every time I walk by an administrator, I expect to be told, "I need to see you in my office. You are going to get it for teaching the test." I would deny it, of course, but my poker face is no good. They could use the lights in face technique you see in the old movies and have me singing like a songbird.
I just want to make it to retirement with as little trouble and fuss as possible, draw my hard earned pension, and let the younger generation of teachers worry about the almighty test score.
In the event you don't hear from me again, just assume the testing police caught up with me, have thrown me into "teaching the test" jail, and thrown away the key.
I have a feeling I'll be in good company. But, say a prayer for all of us anyway.
