A combination of things -- project-based learning, explicitly teaching skills as part of projects, after school tutoring and pull-out during the day--it's not just one thing or another.

Ensure that your content is relevant and rigorous, that your instructional delivery strategies are relevant, innovative and engaging and that you include benchmark and interim assessments in the process.

Carmen, nice well thought-out comments. Let me guess - burnt out teacher who's too lazy to do project-based learning? Sounds like it.

Carmen's comment takes a very strong stance, yet, she offers no support for her opinion. This is the exact problem that we are having with our students. They have an opinion, but don't know how to express themselves. Socratic methods engage them in conversation and teach them how to express their opinions with examples in such a manner that makes their point rather than makes them appear irrational. Through problem-based-learning, students are put into situations that require them to make decisions that they must defend in an environment that can be safe and fun.

People are crazy if they think that project-based or experiential learning will prepare students for standardized tests. The responses to this survey show that people don't know what they are talking about.

The only real high-stakes tests that matter are fulfillment in life. That means destroy the school building as we know it. It's 200freaking7 already and NOTHING IN SCHOOLS HAS REALLY CHANGED. My grandmother's description of her school life sounds just like mine was, like my nieces who are now 8. I don't get why schools look nothing like real jobs and real life.

The problem with these tests are that teachers are no longer allowed to teach in the classroom the way that they would like to be. We are forced by administration and to a great degree even the states to teach to the test. The children are not being given the opportunity to get the basics and then have the chance to drill to mastery. After the basics are learned bigger concepts can be introduced and mastered easily. Hands on projects are wonderful to aid in this process, but the initial drill, drill, drill must also be incorporated in the beginning and sadly it is not. I was told straight out by an elementary teacher that there is no place in education for memorization and that was the official stance of the newest programs being endorsed by the state. My question is how do we say we have learned something if we cannot remember what it was that we learned? Everyone wants to blame NCLB for this, but the problem existed long before that and will continue to exist until politicians, bureaucrats, and adminstrators are willing to listen to the people who actually know what is going on in the classrooms...the teachers. And not to get on a soapbox, but where are the parents in the equation? Most usually they are running from any and all responsibility as they point accusingly at the teachers. A little discipline at home and homework getting done would aid teachers tremendously.

Although using project based learning can help to teach the students the concepts, unfortuantely, they have to have practice with the test-format itself or they do not recognize that they DO know the answer.

It is a two-fold effort. One is to teach the concepts in a meaninful and engaging way, but then Two is to teach students how to communicate that knowledge in a high-stakes test environment and to give them confidence going into the test that they know what to expect.

First, I want to make it clear that Native American Indian (NAI) students are capable of learning new knowledge and passing reading and math tests. As a problem, high stakes testing does not measure academic abilities of NAI students accurately. Local performance measures designed by educators working with NAI students to measure progress is a better microscope. Why? High stakes testing actually misses the boat as a dipstick when measuring NAI performance, especially for students who live on Indian reservations because differing educational views, values, and community lifestyles. In fact, it would be nice if high stakes testing were designed to measure academic progress instead of perpetuating the ongoing labeling system (i.e., At-Risk, SPED, LD, etc.). Until appropriate choices are offered as test options for schools serving non-mainstream communities, NAI students will continue to rate lower than their mainstream peers.

I can only comment: After looking at the results of this survey, it appears that we are a nation at risk. We think that our class time is so valuable we should be teaching to high stakes tests as opposed to high stakes life.
Sorry.

My regard to the testing gurus is less than generous, but then since we teach to tests, we learn less and less about irony, skepticism and other healthy looks at the bubble.