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I was once lucky enough to sit in on an English Department meeting for a charter school in the Philadelphia. One of the teachers made the claim that the skills tested on the PSSAs and other standardized tests are not the same as those needed for the study of literature and rhetoric. He did not want to teach what he loosely termed "test taking skills." Another teacher responded that he found the standarized tests useful for organizing his curriculum. He argued that the students needed structure to learn complex analysis and skills.

I tend to agree with the first teacher and think you might too. However, I am unsure how to respond to the second teacher.