School-Wide Inquiry Into Learning and Teaching Performance

¶ … school-wide inquiry into learning and teaching performance and participating in professional inquiry as a colleague" I have often found my school lacking (Copland & Knapp 2006). My current Capstone project is on the phenomenon of 'teaching to the test,' or the extent to which the pressures of standardized testing have inhibited teacher's creativity and limited the development of individuated curriculums in schools today. Copland and Knapp (2006) suggest that under ideal circumstances, a partnership exists between teachers and administrators as they engage in a joint effort to discover what works and what does not work when comparing teaching strategies. But I often find (which is not uncommon amongst teachers) that the standardized test becomes a kind of 'third party' in the relationship between teachers and other stakeholders.

Rather than engaging in research to determine what works and does not work to enhance learning, instead teachers and administrators alike must shape student learning in a particular fashion to enhance test performance, rather than really reflect on how to teach students to 'learn how to learn.' Using standardized testing is the antithesis of creating a 'learning society,' as articulated by Donald Schon, in which a community learns together (Smith 2009). Instead, there is instead a specific benchmark that is predetermined for students to meet, and administrators and teachers cannot question whether such standards are desirable or reasonable, even given the student body's unique background. Rather than teachers working together as a community, outsiders set the standards of the learning community (Copland & Knapp 2006: 25).

The results of standardized assessment are also seldom valuable in developing the curriculum from a pedagogical standpoint. The results of the test come in too late to fundamentally restructure the curriculum for the students, and the feedback is not individualized. While I do not deny the need for students to master basic skills, it is questionable if standardized testing really tests applied vs. rote learning, and truly enhances the learning of students most in need of assistance.

Reference

Smith, M.K. (2009). Donald Schon: Learning, reflection and change. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-schon.htm

Discussion 2

My Capstone project focuses on the phenomenon of 'teaching to the test' and the possibly deleterious influence it can have upon student learning. I am specifically interested in studying the 'PASS' test which is administered by my state in the third grade. For my approach, I intend to embark upon a case study method in which uses the principles of 'action research.' Action research fundamentally strives to address community-based problems from an insider's rather than outsider's perspective (Rose 2009). Students as well as teachers are viewed as involved participants in the approach.

I will follow the preparation of third grade classes within two different public schools that must take the test. One will be in a 'failing' school district, the type of school district that standardized tests are deliberately intended to 'flag.' The second will be in an affluent school district in which students are traditionally identified as high-achieving. Questions I will attempt to explore are whether standardized tests are fundamentally helpful in addressing the needs of students in underperforming districts, the stresses it causes students, and the degree to which teachers feel that standardized tests have enhanced or inhibited their ability to help students learn.