If you hear, "teaching to the test" take your child and run the other way

Teaching to the test is a common phrase we hear when discussing children’s and now even high school level education.  The issue is most parents don’t realize what a negative impact teaching to the test can have on students and on their ability to learn in the future. 

Teaching to the test is literally exactly what it says; teachers teach kids to pass or get a good grade on a specific test as opposed to teaching them the topic as a subject.  This type of teaching was not suggested because of its educational value but instead as a method of deciding which schools will receive funding and keep teachers on staff. 

Teaching from fear of losing your job is not the way to get the best from your teaching staff or from your students yet many of our public schools are run exactly this way.  It is no fault of the teachers or for that matter the school’s leadership.  It is the fault of the higher up administration that can’t find a better way to motivate teachers and students then motivating them through fear.  Teaching to the test may be an OK way for administrators to allocate educational funds but it comes at the price of the students current education and future ability to learn and internalize subjects.