The Common Core State Standards are clear benchmarks focused on each grade level. They are coherently aligned and require students' rigor. This system gives teachers some freedom, flexibility, and creativity within their teaching practices. In order to deliver effective lessons and outcomes where learning takes place from students, the teacher must use their deep content knowledge, repertoire in teaching style, and lesson studies.
I agree that test preparation is important, however, the state assessment should be only one piece of the student's evidence of learning. In other words, if the student masters a certain skill at the level of 85% or above, they should be able to perform their comprehension of that topic in any format of testing, e.g., bubble filling, short answer, long answer, oral answer, etc. Test taking skills like cramming will destroy the primary purpose of Common Core and therefore college & career readiness. If our instructions and expectations of the students' performance in each lesson are rigorous, high achievement should follow.
Instead of worrying about the state tests, it is significant for each school in our country to plan a comprehensive and systematic instruction and assessment schedule to meet standards among students. For instance, studying and sorting different instructional models for certain learning objectives will enhance teaching skills. You can determine the focused instructional model each month and discuss it. Along with the instructional plan, determine the assessments that give data that will help understand the individual student's achievement, the norm, and the effectiveness of the selected instructional model. Not only will the grade level and the whole school team benefit from these kinds of professional developments, but the results will also reflect on the state test results.
It sounds like "Smarter Teaching and Learning" is a common requirement in the 21st century education.
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