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teaching-to-the-test

Teaching to the Test Is Dead. Here’s What to Do Instead.

  • November 7, 2024

For U.S. public school students and teachers, standardized testing is simply a fact of life. Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, federal law has required schools to report on assessment results for students in Grade 3-8 and once in high school. Back in 2015, a study found that the average student takes 112 standardized tests by the time they graduate high school.

These tests aren’t just used to track student performance. They’re used to rate schools and even determine teacher salaries, meaning they carry high stakes for educators. In the last two decades, more and more educators and families have raised concerns that this system creates the wrong incentives. They argue that standardized test scores become a goal in themselves, rather than a tool to measure overall educational progress.

But the tide is turning. Compelling research has shown that “teaching to the test” harms educational quality without improving scores. Instead, educators are finding new ways to deliver a high-quality education and prepare students for exams along the way.

So, what is the meaning of “teaching to the test” and what other options can educators consider?

  • What Is Teaching to the Test?

At their core, standardized assessments are meant to measure student’s attainment of certain knowledge and skills. They can help educators develop and adapt curricula and pedagogy and identify areas where students may need additional support.

But problems arise when the tests, rather than the learning standards they measure, drive lesson planning. Assessment expert W. James Popham makes a clear distinction between “curriculum-teaching” aimed at delivering a set of knowledge and skills—which include material assessed on standardized tests—and “item-teaching,” which focuses on the items that will appear on an assessment.

For example, a teacher who is “item-teaching” might focus on ensuring students memorized a set of vocabulary words that are likely to be on the test. In contrast, a teacher who is “curriculum-teaching” might instead work to grow a students’ vocabulary holistically through their reading and writing work.

5 Reasons to Avoid Teaching to the Test

  • Research shows it simply isn't effective.
  • It short circuits learning.
  • Assessments are not curriculum.
  • Lightning never strikes twice.
  • It can demotivate both students and educators.
  • Why Teaching to the Test Doesn’t Work
  • Research shows it simply isn't effective.
Research shows that focusing classroom instruction on test preparation does not improve scores. It can also negatively impact students’ overall education. Standardized assessments are typically narrowly focused, with predictable question types and focus areas.
  • It short-circuits learning.
Many educators argue that teaching to the test emphasizes rote memorization and repetitive drills instead of helping students develop the critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and communication skills they need to thrive. After all, rigor is how students develop meaningful skills that translate into better test performance. If the learning objective is answering a multiple-choice question correctly, rigor is no longer the goal.

Research has suggested that focusing on test preparation can lead to less ambitious, lower-quality instruction. This impact can even trickle down to younger grades, with teachers focusing on preparing students for future exams instead of developmentally appropriate skills like interpersonal communication.

  • Assessments are not curriculum.
Test questions are randomly sequenced. They don’t build on one another. They are not pedagogically sound. They aren’t a learning pathway; they’re a learning labyrinth without exit.

One study of ACT prep in Chicago Public Schools found that when schools focus too closely on improving scores on practice tests and questions, teachers and students fail to take a step back and identify the areas where students’ knowledge and skills are weak. Plus, an excess focus on test preparation often means less time is available for untested subjects like the arts, music, and physical education, all elements of a well-rounded curriculum.

  • Lightning never strikes twice.
It isn’t effective for educators to take last year’s test and teach students how to answer that. Why? Because that test will never show up again. It’s rare to have even one repeated item. This teaching strategy causes overfitting, where what students learn is too closely matched to the example test. What students prep for doesn’t help them on the upcoming exam.
  • It can demotivate both students and educators.
Finally, using the phrase “This will be on the test,” wears thin. Basing an entire learning program on that concept is extremely demotivating to students—and can be equally demotivating to teachers. “I want to dedicate my life to helping students bubble answer sheets accurately,” said no educator ever. You can’t expect unmotivated educators to motivate students, and you can expect that unmotivated students won’t learn.

There are so many ways to move the needle. But the most frequently used one, teaching to the test, won’t work.

  • Instead of Teaching to the Test, What Should I Do?
Instead of teaching to the test, you have a few other options. But at MasteryPrep, we advocate for the last option listed below.

Teaching to the Standard

When you teach to a standard, your starting point for your lesson is a state standard. The problem here is that most standards are unteachable without a lot of supporting information and specifications. What’s more, without knowledge of the way the standard is assessed, you could misalign what students learn with how they’re tested. Lastly, every standard incorporates hidden standards that will get in the way of demonstrating proficiency.

Teaching to the Textbook

Long before standards were first-class citizens in the classroom, there were textbooks. When you teach to the textbook, you just get your kids through that thing come hell or high water.

There are problems here, too. Misalignment between textbooks and assessments are rampant, so even if your students have perfect book knowledge they could miss on the standardized test. What’s more, textbooks are a one-size-fits-all approach that often doesn’t provide the flexibility to meet individual student learning needs.

Our Recommendation: Teaching to the Student

Instead of building their lessons around tests, educators should develop curricula that incorporate core concepts and skills and challenges they’ll face in the real world.

This is the methodology we advocate at MasteryPrep and enable with our programs. When you plan your lessons, in addition to the curriculum or textbook resources you’re working with, you take into consideration:

  • State standards
  • Assessed standards (how they will actually be tested)
  • Current student ability level
  • Student interest and value

You then provide a lesson that captures student interest, provides them value (from their own perspective), and bridges them from their current ability level to a level that meets or exceeds the expectations expressed by state standards and implied by the assessed standards and the supporting curriculum.

When you plan a lesson that teaches to the student, you’re more likely to reach them where they are and take them to where they need to go.

  • Balancing Test Prep with Meaningful Learning
While testing requirements and pressures likely won’t disappear in the near future, test prep should supplement a robust and varied curriculum, and instead reinforce key learnings and familiarize students with assessment formats in an engaging, responsive way. Above all, educators should remember one core message: assessments are an educational tool, not the end goal.

The MasteryPrep Approach

Explore our bundle offerings to learn more about how MasteryPrep Curriculum can help your students achieve higher scores in any academic environment for the SAT, ACT, TSIA2, and state end-of-course assessments.
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ACT® is the registered trademark of ACT, Inc. Some items in MasteryPrep programs are the copyrighted content of ACT, Inc. and are reproduced with permission. SAT® is a trademark of the College Board. MasteryPrep LLC has no affiliation with College Board MasteryPrep SAT programs are not approved or endorsed by College Board. The Texas Success Initiative Assessment 2.0 (TSIA2) is an ACCUPLACER® exam, which is a trademark of College Board. MasteryPrep has no affiliation with College Board or the Texas Success Initiative (TSI), and the TSIA2 Mastery program is not approved or endorsed by College Board or the TSI. WorkKeys® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc. The WorkKeys programs are not approved or endorsed by ACT, Inc.

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