Popham (2001) suggests the use of multiple measures including writing, open-ended response questions, and performance-based tasks. The use of these types of assessment may provide a more accurate picture of student learning. Additionally, the public must become more critical consumers of educational data. A significant increase in test scores might be the result of better teaching practices, but it might also be the result of teaching to the test.
Finally as suggested by both Popham (2001) and Volante (2004) teachers need to have an understanding of, teach, and assess the entire curriculum. Belfiore et al. (2005) argue that this is especially true for schools in areas of high poverty, stating that this begins with "(a) teachers believing all children have the potential to learn, which in turn results in (b) teacher designing and implementing pedagogically sound practices that (c) create an academically challenging (i.e., not watered-down) curriculum. Within a challenging, educatively supportive curriculum, students increase academic performance, which in turn increases self-efficacy and, ultimately reaching the goal of all urban education, an increase in the...
861).
As a teacher in an inner-city school in a low socioeconomic area, I have often seen the results of teaching to the test. I want my students to appreciate the perspective provided by good literature and, at the very least, to be able to write well enough to communicate effectively. If I only teach to the test, I am doing them a great disservice.
