Hmmm... I am a pretty motivated educator right now, but I do not worry very much about how my students will do on
standardized tests. I just try to teach well and prepare them a little for the test format. The students seem to do pretty well and to be pretty happy.
After all, German is an elective course where my wife and I teach and the students keep signing up for it. And I would bet that our kids' scores on the Advanced Placement German Exam and the International Baccalaureate German Exam would impress most people who care about that sort of thing.
Tie my salary directly to their test scores and I would still be motivated, but not to be a the kind of teacher I am today. I would focus almost exclusively, I suppose, on raising test scores even higher. Frankly, I would drill them constantly and would drive content into their heads like nails into a block of wood.
Drill and kill is the phrase we often use.
And we would do practice test after practice test after practice test.
They would be test-taking machines and that would put more money in my pocket.
I do not think they would love German any more, but that does not seem to be the issue here, does it?
Just my two cents, of course.
-- Art
