In class we discussed Catherine Z. Elgin's Education and the Advancement of Understanding. Elgin believes that we can't teach what we don't know and because the standard of knowledge has been placed so high we really don't know much. Knowledge requires a tether, something to hang it on. The stronger the tether, the greater our knowledge. I found it interesting that she said that our students know a lot because we tell them a lot. If they can repeat it back to us then we assume that they have knowledge. Even parrots can repeat what they have been told and yet with the No Child Left Behind legistation we are required to teach our students material that they will later be tested on. We are teaching them to "parrot" what we tell them so that they will perform well on a standardized test. The reward for their "parroting" is that our school will receive a higher grade on the annual report card sent to parents and to the community; we will be able to boast that our students have learned the SC standards for their particular grade level. There is no measurement on a standardized test for how strong the student's tether is.
Likewise, standardized testing does not allow for the process of reasoning as described in Siegel's The Reasons Conception. A criticism of NCLB is that it forces teachers to "teach the test." By doing this, students are not being taught to think critically (except possibly becoming critical towards standardized testing). So while the goal of NCLB is that every child should receive an education, I think we should ask ourselves, "What kind of education?" and "Will their education serve them throughout their lifetimes or just until the standardized test is over?"
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Interesting question to end the post with! When I first got into the public high schools in 2002, NCLB was just brand new and that was the largest complaint that a lot of teachers had then! A lot of times it does lead to "teaching to the test" and out the information goes the next day.
While there is a much better solution to ensure that what we teach tomorrow's leaders will actually stick with them throughout their lifetimes, I am one of those who would rather see an adolescent actually apply what knowledge I instill in them rather than re-gurgitate it back to me. Instead of "parroting" them and having each student do well on a standardized test.
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