Why Testing isn't the answer
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As an English teacher, I always perceived that my job's goals had something to do with instilling a love of reading and a love of language in my students. For many years, I was able to achieve that goal. Perhaps one student would read an entire book for the first time under my tutelage. Or perhaps another student would realize that with some motivation, he could take certain words and create poetry. Not every assignment worked for every child, but there were moments of success.
Through literature, the English teacher is given the unique opportunity to not only instill a love of reading but to introduce students to character education--the latest catch word among the big shots. Character education? English teachers have been doing that for years as they taught morals and values in such works of literature as Cyrano de Bergerac, A Raisin in the Sun, Twelve Angry Men, The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Catcher in the Rye. Maybe the characters within these pieces did not act with perfect morality in every situation, but they provided the models for which discussions could evolve and lessons could be taught.
Yes, a teacher of English is given many opportunities to teach important stuff. Oops, I need to change that verb tense. Yes, a teacher of English was given many opportunities to teach important stuff.
Standardized testing has changed all of that. Or more precisely Florida and Jeb Bush's A+ Education Plan where public schools are given a report card grade based on student performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), has changed the goals in many classrooms in Florida. In fact, English teachers, trained to teach literature, are now the reading teachers of record for high school students. What's the difference? Well, the teacher of literature teaches students to appreciate language and to find something enjoyable to read. They teach moral lessons through the mistakes and foibles of the characters. But a reading teacher teaches high school students to read. And now a reading teacher must teach students how to pass an assessment test and is held accountable if a parent decides to sue because a child cannot graduate from high school if they can't pass the test set before them.
So instead of sharing the responsibility among the curriculums within the high school setting, the English teacher becomes the one responsible for the reading scores. And instead of questioning why a student reached the ninth grade without the ability to read, the high school reading teacher of record (i.e. the English teacher) becomes the defendant in lawsuits.
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