Thriving in a High-Stakes Testing Environment

Abstract

These are difficult times for those of us who think literacy is more than basic skills and teaching is more than testing. We see more and more schools put test preparation ahead of “best practices” in reading in an attempt to avoid low test scores. But, interestingly, this is not the case everywhere. Some schools deal with high-stakes testing while also providing rich literacy instruction. So what is the difference? Why are some schools merely surviving while others are thriving?