Forget the test! Teach well

I divided this topic about tests and teaching into three parts because it was getting so long. This is part 3. It follows part 1 and part 2.

Teach well - After listening to some educators from Hutchenson schools come talk to use about how they had turned around their schools and got 100% of their students to proficiency in Math and Reading, I wondered how they did it. They talked about data-driven decision-making, Kagan Cooperative Learning, and Ruby Paine’s approaches to dealing with students in poverty. It basically came down to using the best teaching practices for each kid. A lot of my students last year qualified for free or reduced lunches because they were poor. The Ruby Paine talk got me thinking, so I told my principal that I was concerned about how to best teach my class so my poverty students would learn well. She essentially said that I should teach well so my students would learn well.
We know a lot about how students learn. We also know a lot about which teaching practices work the best. I have already blogged about this before. Part of my purpose of this blog is to explore best teaching practices. I think Robert Marzano has said it pretty well in this book, What Works in Schools. (I’m currently reading his book.) Marzano based his research upon which teaching practices raised test scores.
It comes down to integrating good teaching philosophy with good teaching practices. Learning needs to be taught at higher levels on Blooms Taxonomy - teach deeply. Learning needs to be child-centered - teach thoughtfully. Learning needs to be based upon effective teaching practices - teach well. Use these and test scores will rise.

• Teach deeply
• Teach thoughtfully
• Teach well
• And the test scores will take care of themselves

This sound like a good topic for a presentation. However, I feel like I need to back up my assertions with some statistics, facts, or something to give my opinions some credibility. Any ideas?

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

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