Blogs on Education Trends

What does "teaching to the test" mean? I haven't actually ever seen this literally happen in a classroom: "Class, remember the answer to question 12 is A, 13 is B, and 14 is D." But, as much as it is maligned, isn't a form of teaching to the test the point of why we teach in the first place? I'm wondering how students can be successful on the state standardized test if we don't teach to it?

Let me - and every one of us at Edutopia - be among the first to say "thank you" on Teacher Appreciation Day. We hope it's something you'll hear a lot today, and every day.

Ever since George Lucas founded Edutopia twenty years ago, appreciating and supporting outstanding educators has been precisely what we strive to do 365 days a year. While today is special - no doubt - it all comes back to providing you - our community - with proven strategies, connections, and resources that help you bring the best to your school or district whenever you need it.

Editor's Note: Will Richardson is the author of weblogg-ed, a blog that covers the intersection of learning, technology and ed reform. A former classroom teacher in Flemington, New Jersey, Richardson is also the author of the book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. He is also a member of the National Advisory Council here at the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Tim Stahmer's post "There's No Normal to Return To" has me thinking this morning. He writes:

At the same time we in education are also doubling down on the "back to basics" and on teaching kids how to follow someone else's instructions. Our leaders, both political and business, want us to think that if we just combine greater effort with more standardization that we can recreate the glorious old days where every kid was above average and US test scores topped every other country.

In November of last year, the Department of Education released its National Education Technology Plan (NETP) after 18 months of input from educators, government officials, and industry people.

Earlier this year here on Edutopia, blogger Audrey Watters reviewed the plan and solicited questions from the Edutopia community about the plan. We sent the highest-ranking questions to DOE's Karen Cator who answered each of them -- on video -- here.