A teacher's classroom is seen more as a laboratory where every move the instructor makes can be observed, recorded, and evaluated. The corollary to the managed classroom is the testing mania that has invaded public schools. In Connecticut, as in many other states, there are state-created tests almost every other year, culminating in the Connecticut Academic Proficiency Test, or CAPT, in the sophomore year of high school. Student progress, like teacher performance, can be measured on a regular basis. Woe to the students and teachers in those towns that have declining scores.
Students are products.
The capt has replaced SATs as the measuring stick and every teacher better know it. The problem is that teachers teach to the test, and students are turned off and frequently hostile to classes that are more like laboratories than active classrooms where discussions of literature are spontaneous and where both teacher and students share a sense of discovery. The operative word today is accountability. The state holds each town accountable for the success of its curriculum as determined by a state-created test. The town holds the teacher responsible for the success rate of his or her students.