The backlash against teaching to the test came for a good reason.  Teachers were teaching students what they needed to know in order to pass whichever test the school district deemed to be most important that year.  Teachers sacrificed academic content to make sure students knew how to answer the test questions.  The focus was on passing the test, not on what was best for students.  Unfortunately, many teachers threw the baby out with the bath water.  And that was a huge mistake.  You should teach to the test, but only if you do it the right way.

During my first year of teaching, I was fortunate enough to be mentored by Steve Ramirez.  His mentorship in those early years formed my entire teaching career.  He taught me not only the importance of teaching to a test worth teaching to, but also what that looked like.

The most common mistake teachers make is to begin a unit by diving in and teaching the content first.  When they have finished teaching the series of lessons, they either make up a test based on what they just taught, or pull the chapter test out of the book and give it to the students even though all of the items being assessed were not taught.

As a student, I would call foul.  That’s not fair!

Don’t do this to students.

Instead, begin with the end in mind.  How do you know which way to go if you don’t know where you are headed?  Go to the end first.  Clearly identify what students need to know, understand, and be able to do by the time the unit is over.  Then carefully and intentionally lead your students on a path from the beginning that will lead them right to the test.  They will learn what is most important and they will also do better on the test.

6 Simple Steps for ‘Teaching to the Test’ the Right Way

1 – Identify the standards and content you will be teaching.

2 – Create student learning goals based on and aligned to the standards.

3 – Create an assessment that measures the student learning goals.

4 – Create a series of lessons, aligned to the student learning goals, which will help students learn and master the information.  Deliver those lessons.  Teach to the test.

5 – Regularly check on their progress in relation to the learning goals with formative assessments.

6 – When you are confident students are ready to demonstrate their mastery of the content, based on formative assessments, administer the test you created at the beginning of the unit before you started teaching the content.

Effective teachers give their students tests that measure the most important things students need to learn.  You see, it’s about teaching to a test that is worth teaching to.  A test worth teaching to measures what is most important for students to learn.  It is always about what is best for the students.

Summative assessments are an opportunity for students to demonstrate what they have learned.  Content on summative tests should not be surprise.  It should never be a “Gotcha!”  Students should know ahead of time what is going to be on the test.  They need to know what it is they are supposed to learn and how they will be assessed at the end of the unit.

Knowing what you are teaching and creating the assessment first, gives you a clear direction.  It keeps you on track, prevents you from getting lost in your own content, and it ensures that the test will be a fair assessment of student learning.

Is there anything you need to look at more closely in relation to your assessments that would be in the best interest of your students?  Leave a comment below.