Teaching Blindfolded: One Teacher’s Struggle to Meet the Needs of Her Somali Students in the Era of High Stakes Testing and Scripted Curriculum

The following case study looks at one teacher’s struggle to meet the needs of her Somali students’ in the era of high stakes testing and scripted curriculum. It documents the pressure on teachers and students to improve the average school state mandated test scores and to ignore the intellectual and vocational resources of the families in the community (Gonzalez et al., 1995). Consequently, more and more schools are adopting a prescribed curriculum with scripted lessons to replace inquiry lessons. This study discusses how this curriculum adoption often forces teacher to ignore students’ needs and cultural background and teach to the test. 

The following case study looks at one teacher’s struggle to meet the needs of her Somali students’ in the era of high stakes testing and scripted curriculum. It documents the pressure on teachers and students to improve the average school state mandated test scores and to ignore the intellectual and vocational resources of the families in the community (Gonzalez et al., 1995). Consequently, more and more schools are adopting a prescribed curriculum with scripted lessons to replace inquiry lessons. This study discusses how this curriculum adoption often forces teacher to ignore students’ needs and cultural background and teach to the test.