Abstract of

Teaching to the Test…Not! Balancing Best Practice and Testing Requirements in Writing

Betty Higgins

Melinda Miller

Susan Wegmann

High-stakes testing and accountability in the United States cloak the real purpose of assessment—diagnosing learning to inform instruction. Standardized testing drives curricula in many states. Teachers may feel pressured to “teach to the test,” although they know it is not best practice.

The authors discuss how using several evidence-based approaches to writing instruction—writing workshop and the witing process, 6 + 1 Traits, and modes of writing—can accomplish two goals: providing high-quality instruction, and preparing students for success in standardized writing tests. They stress that assessment is a component of instruction, not an end unto itself, and that the goal of instruction is to produce lifelong learners, not test takers.

Abstract from Higgins, B., Miller, M., & Wegmann, S. (2006, December). Teaching to the Test…Not! Balancing Best Practice and Testing Requirements in Writing. The Reading Teacher, 60(4), 310–319. doi: 10.1598/RT.60.4.1