In the debate over how to improve public education, we should not lose sight of what we as teachers and schools are actually doing, of how are we educating our students and to what end. Strong performance on standardized tests should be a byproduct of the education our students receive; the goal should be to produce strong readers and thinkers.

You’ve heard many teachers express this sentiment, but school districts are still too distracted by standardized test and exit exam scores that they miss the whole point of what teachers are trying to accomplish in their classrooms. The quote above comes from the individual who wrote a thoughtful article on the curriculum gap and social equity. Statistics compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics bears out the relationship between poverty and academic attainment, and the relationships have little to do with teacher quality or student aptitude. The question is, how long will school districts and states continue to play the test game, forcing teachers to teach to the test instead of teaching for success and life?

Read on.  You do not have to be a follower of the Huffington Post to see the logic in this blogger’s post.

Teach Plus: Closing the Curriculum Gap Is a Social Justice Issue.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/teach-plus/closing-the-curriculum-ga_b_1533164.html

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