Teach Reading, Not Testing: Best Practice in an Age of Accountability - Paperback

by Liz Hollingworth (Author), Hilleary M. Drake (Author)

Teaching IS rocket science--and you are the pilot!

Teach Reading, Not Testing reinforces what teachers already know--test preparation worksheets and drill-and-kill activities do not make children into lifelong readers. The authors′ conscientious approach to reading instruction combines an insider perspective on the development of high-stakes tests with classroom experience in achieving successful reading outcomes at the elementary and secondary levels. Their research-based methodology, building on teachers′ expertise about best practice, is based on five key components:

1. Aligning instruction to the state or national core standards
2. Using formative assessment
3. Connecting units to real-world contexts
4. Motivating students effectively
5. Holding on to best practice in literacy instruction

Included are end-of-chapter quizzes and real-life scenarios, plus a full chapter on teaching literacy with special populations. Readers will find helpful solutions for teaching children to love reading in the midst of the accountability movement, and an approach to test preparation that doesn′t require teachers to sacrifice everything they already know about teaching kids to read.

Author Biography

Liz Hollingworth is a professor in the College of Education at the University of Iowa. Her research and teaching interests are centered on curriculum, leadership, and assessment. In particular, her work explores how federal school reform policies affect classroom practice. Her other books include Organization and Administration of Iowa Public and Private Schools and Complicated Conversations: Race and Ideology in an Elementary Classroom. Dr. Hollingworth grew up in San Diego, taught in Chicago and Michigan, and now lives in Iowa City with her husband, Andrew, and teenaged daughter, Emily.

Hilleary Drake has taught fifth grade for six years in Riverton, Wyoming. Growing up in Texas during the initial wave of the "testing craze" she understands just how harmful it can be when testing drives instruction. She earned her undergraduate degree from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and her Master's degree from the University of Iowa. While at Iowa she worked with Iowa Testing Progams as a graduate assistant, gaining behind-the-scene knowledge of the testing industry. Hilleary enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with friends and family, especially her husband Jay.