I often hear complaints and criticisms about teachers who are "teaching to the test."The complainers act as though there is something inherently wrong with this practice or that it is somehow an illegal act. I want to challenge this way of thinking with a brief Q&A:

• Did you have to take final exams when you were in high school? (This answer is always yes.)

• Did you not want the teacher to teach the material that would be on that final exam? (Again, yes.)

• So, good teachers would not test students on curriculum the students had never seen before, right? (Right.)

A critical point in these considerations is the strength of the curriculum. When tests are based on a strong curriculum that teachers use as the basis of their instruction, then students benefit from that type of teaching to the test. On the other hand, students suffer if the curriculum is weak.

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