Stop teaching to the tests?

After our discussion today in class, I began thinking about how teachers can stop teaching to the tests. Since education seems to be all about test scores, it has become necessary to prepare our students for these supposedly critical tests. I agree that a lot of time gets wasted in the classroom because the curriculum only provides enough space for test prep, which eliminates any other useful material for the students. I wish I could teach so that tests are not emphasized as much as they are right now, but when thinking about how I can do that I become lost. Knowing that as the children get older they will have to take these tests, I feel that it is my job to prepare them to be successful at doing it. If I eliminate any sort of test taking in my classroom, what will happen when my previous students go to take a test later on? They won't know what to do! The only way I think this could work is if all levels stop emphasizing test taking so strongly, that way you won't be setting kids up for disaster if you don't emphasize tests early on. I do think assessing children's knowledge is important and we should not eliminate it completely, but by basing children's success and knowledge solely on standardized tests, I think we are underplaying other areas of children's skills and talents.

I read this article written by a teacher about how "we must stop judging kids solely on standardized tests." I think this teacher brings up the exact point of why tests shouldn't be the only way to measure a student's abilities. Not everyone learns the same or has the same talents! She mentions a perfect example of how a couple of students in her English class were not good test takers and were failing her class. When she allowed them to express their knowledge in a way that was easier for them, she was still able to see that they learned the material- which is essentially what school should be about.