ABSTRACT
The ambiguity of test preparation comes partly from the rhetoric surrounding testing and partly from the range of activities it denotes. Whereas critics see testing as a disease that plagues our educational system, advocates see it as central to the current panacea-standards-based reform-that is expected to save the American educational system. The ambiguity of practice is that test preparation turns out to have elements of both. Some test preparation is decontextualized drill, a short-term response to raise test scores regardless of what students actually learn. But in response to certain types of tests, some teachers are encouraged to explore more intellectually challenging practices and integrate them into their classrooms throughout the year. Which response predominates depends partly on the state test, partly on other policies, and partly on how schools and districts interpret and enact those policies. Taken as a package, however, nothing suggests that the kind of state and local policies and practices observed are likely to overcome the achievement gap between New Jersey’s rich and poor children.
