According to researchers, what are some of the negative effects caused by "teaching to the test" and Race to the Top?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Although President Obama proposed that teachers should stop "teaching to the test," his signature education program, Race to the Top (RTTP), encourages states to award bonuses to teachers whose students attain higher test scores. Accountability is necessary to assess student, school, and system progress. However, many argue that a single standardized test in mathematics and reading creates a culture of test preparation that often leaves little room for creative and in-depth teaching. Today's global education reform movement demands teaching to the test. The results of these tests are becoming the most important outcomes of education. Naturally, teachers who are being evaluated based on their students' test scores are resorting to teaching to the test as a pragmatic way to protect their jobs. A troubling outcome of the movement is to treat parents as consumers and students as products, with teachers treated as workers who are expected to obey orders.
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Many argue that the rigid testing protocols established by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and continued through RTTP further exacerbate the problem of teachers teaching to the test because in some states teachers' very jobs depend on the scores of their students. Assessment experts argue that there is more to evaluating student learning and teacher success than the students' performance on a single assessment event. Teachers who feel pressured to teach to the test-that is, to focus narrowly on the precise skills and information students need to do well on the exam-often resort to old-fashioned drill-and-practice exercises, trying to cram the knowledge into their students. There may be little time left for critical thinking, delving into a subject deeply, or exploring the students' own questions.