Editorial: Teaching To The Test
Nowadays, testing and school seems to be inextricably linked. In a drive for accountability, our public school systems have become test-taking machines. From the time Massachusetts students are in the third grade, they are trained in how to fill out a bubble sheet.
Given the pressures on our society to educate our children and remain competitive in a global marketplace, it makes sense that standardized tests would play an important role. But perhaps our testing obsession has gone too far, given what recently transpired in a Worcester elementary school.
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Two weeks ago, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced that it was throwing out all the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) results from Goddard School of Science & Technology.
The investigation by the state, along with Worcester Public Schools, found that some teachers had inappropriately coached students who were taking the tests.
The disclosure of this type of ethical lapse is disturbing. And while it’s unclear how many teachers were involved, it could point to a culture within our school systems that gives permission for crossing the line in the name of good test scores.
But what would drive a teacher to coach a student taking an MCAS exam? The answer is simple: Pressure. Test scores equal money. A school that shows progress on MCAS results is home free. A school that struggles to perform – even if they have a highly challenging population of students – is at risk of being shut down.
Under federal rules, public schools accepting federal dollars are required to meet certain benchmarks on standardized tests. If the school fails to continually advance its results year after year, it is labeled as “failing to make adequate yearly progress.” After receiving that label for several years in a row, the school’s funding is in jeopardy.
So it’s no wonder that teachers and administrators in low-income schools would feel a little pressure when test time comes around. Now that pressure doesn’t excuse ethical lapses in judgment, but it can explain a culture where stellar test results are the goal, no matter what the cost.
Members of the Worcester School Committee have gone public with their concern over the Goddard School case, asking for more detail on what exactly transpired in the hopes of pinpointing who exactly acted badly.
While the issue of one school’s test results isn’t on the surface a business issue, it does have larger implications. Education is a key issue for businesses today. Without a pipeline of highly educated students entering the workforce, Central Massachusetts will not be able to stay competitive. That’s why investments in so-called STEM curriculum (science, technology, engineering and math) is a topic that has received the support of big business, including from large global enterprises such as Hopkinton-based EMC.
If our schools are skirting the pressure of standardized tests by coaching students, that’s a bad sign for our education system. And by extension it’s a bad sign for our overall economy.
And if our public school teachers feel pushed to help students cheat on standardized tests, then we have a real problem. While testing is important, we should take the case of Goddard School as a sign that over-emphasis on test scores can lead to unethical behavior. That hurts the students and hurts the business community in the long run.
The federal No Child Left Behind Law, which set up the rules for adequate yearly progress, is up for renewal this year. We urge the Massachusetts congressional delegation to take a hard look at the unreasonable expectations set by NCLB and adjust them to be more attainable. Accountability is needed in our education system. But putting test scores above ethics is setting us all up for failure.
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