Are standardized tests killing reading? A review of Readicide by Kelly Gallagher

I am just finishing a year as the Literacy Support Teacher at my school, so I have been steeped in literacy for months. That makes it the perfect time to do some professional reading about the role of an teacher in a world full of standardized tests.

The book I am reading is Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher.  Gallagher has been writing about reading for years and I have an earlier book of his, Deeper Reading, on my summer reading list.

In Readicide, Gallagher contends that educators are killing the love of reading.  The most immediately relevant to my role as LST is Gallagher's well-reasoned argument that the emphasis on developing test-takers over lifelong readers is contributing to the death of reading.

The emphasis on the results of the OSSLT is bad.  I think it can be misleading to publishing them like they define a school which, in my opinion, ignores the real use of the test.  The test should be used to identify students' weaknesses so we can offer them direct help (in the wise words of a fellow LST).  But, I also know the pressure on the students and LSTs in the weeks leading up to the test, to cover every angle, close every gap, know every trick.  So the question I have been struggling with, I mean really struggling, is how to help students prepare for the literacy test without losing sight of the real goal, true and lifelong literacy. 

I think Gallagher sums it up:  "... if students are taught to read and write well, they will do fine on mandated reading tests.  But if they are only taught to be test-takers, they will never learn to read and write well." (26)

As I finish my stint as LST and return to the English classroom, I now see my role more clearly.  I am going to go back to teaching kids to read and write well (I am a better reader than writer).  And, I am going to use Gallagher's suggestions to do so.  I will let you know how it goes.