The Testing Trap

How State Writing Assessments Control Learning
Erscheinungsjahr 2002
ISBN: 978-0-8077-4229-7
Verlag: Teachers College Press

Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 331 g

Reihe: Language & Literacy

Hardly a day goes by in America without talk of testing students to higher standards as a means to improve our education system. In The Testing Trap, George Hillocks puts this logic to the test. Through interviews with over three hundred teachers and administrators, Hillocks examines whether state writing tests in Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, New York, and Texas do what they are supposed to do: Improve education. Ultimately, Hillocks argues that the majority of existing tests actually have a harmful effect on the way students are taught to write. In The Testing Trap, Hillocks demonstrates how the structure of assessment is actually responsible for the low level of thinking encouraged and reinforced in American classrooms. It is his contention that although politicians call for excellence, the tests that they create, and the formulaic writing they accept as passing, actually point to mediocrity as their true aim. In this way, political objectives are easily achieved but our children suffer the consequences. The Testing Trap is a provocative and essential read for administrators, teachers, parents, policymakers, legislators, voters, and all who care about the education of our children.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hillocks, George

Genishi, Celia

Strickland, Dorothy S

Alvermann, Donna E

Über Autor(innen)

George Hillocks, Jr. is Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. He was awarded the David H. Russell Award from the National Council of Teacher Educators for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English for his 1997 book Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice.