Teaching to the Test

We study all history as world history. We put it all in the context of other events going on around the world. We also include church history as we go. I glean from many sources. Online and offline. We even have a textbook or two as well as actual curriculum and lots of beautifully written books.

As you can probably imagine, it takes us longer than a typical history class takes to cover a certain time period. So this week, it is very apparent that we do not have enough material to last through the school year. Rather than finish early, I got to looking around for other resources and ran across this website: https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse/ap-united-states-history/course-details

I have used it in the past because it links to some good primary sources. I like primary sources better than textbooks. But it is very easy to get bogged down in the reading and never move past the major events. There is just SO much to study! (A-hem. I did not spend an entire year on WW2, really! It just SEEMED like it!)

Anyway, this site has a very nice feature: a sample AP History Exam.

So in two weeks, for the rest of the school year, we are teaching to the test. I am currently adding the sample test questions into Schoology.

This is a LOT of work. Seriously, many, many hours of work. FOR ME. Not them. They will not spend near as much time on it as I do. BUT, once it is there, all of my kids will be able to use it. And, I can set completion rules so that they must pass it with an 80% or better to be able to move on, or in this case, complete the class. Or whatever. I love that about Schoology! I have not decided whether to let them see the correct answers after they take it once or not. I kind of want them to have to look this information up. I have a couple of weeks to decide.

But, here's the deal. I really do not like these test questions. There have already been a couple of instances where I not only didn't know the correct answer but when I looked it up, I was really shocked at how they came to that conclusion.

In one such case, the test-taker was to read a selection from a well-known text and make inferences from the text, and I seriously would not have made ANY of the inferences they listed. It was simply not supported by the text. And it was obscure enough that unless a teacher had taught to the test from the beginning, I'm not sure this would be something gleaned from the excerpted text. We've actually read the book. I didn't get that at all. Hmmm...

I taught history. Everything I taught really happened. It is all history. It was all significant enough to have primary sources and biographies and other written accounts of the events and people involved. I taught the social and cultural things as well. We listened to Jazz and looked at art from the Old West. We crooned with Elvis and swooned over Beethoven. We've studied maps and learned states. History at our house is fun and amazing.

But much of what I taught won't be on the test. And I sure didn't teach all of this stuff that IS on the test. Some of it *I* have not even heard of.

I have no regrets. No one can teach (or learn everything) in history. So we choose. Public schools choose, textbook writers choose, colleges choose, we all choose. No regrets. At all.

I get why it is said (and I have no idea if it is really true) that teachers teach to the test. If I were teaching an AP World History class, and I wanted my students to pass it, I would feel I had to. That is the point -- to get kids to be able to pass the test. I would have to be a student of the test and I would choose a curriculum that taught the things on (and the agenda of) the test.

But that isn't the point of my History classes. The point in our homeschool history class is to create a sense of wonder and amazement and to cultivate discernment. To see that actions have consequences on a very large scale, and also to see that individuals can change the world!

That is the beauty of homeschooling, but also one of the potential drawbacks. Something to think about if you are considering homeschooling. You will have to teach to the test to some extent if you want your students to pass it.