Lewiston parent urges teaching critical thinking over test preparation

Matthew Egren, a Ward 4 resident speaking during the public comment period Oct. 20, urged the Lewiston Public Schools committee to emphasize teaching students to think and reason, not merely to perform on standardized tests.

"We spend much of our children's classroom time teaching them, unfortunately, for the test that's coming next," Egren said. "What this means is they become performers who memorize and recite back the answers, yet may have lost the skills and ability to question things or reason out things for themselves." He added, "We need instead to teach our children how to think for themselves so when they get into the real world, they can hold their own. I want a child to be able to tell me why and how they got to their answer so we can have a reasonable discussion about it."

Egren said he is not opposed to testing outright but questioned whether test scores prove mastery: "Now I'm not saying testing is wrong because we need to make sure they're learning things, but the test itself does not prove that they truly mastered the subject before going on to the next subject." He urged curriculum and instruction that require students to demonstrate reasoning and the ability to defend answers.

The committee did not take formal action on the comments. Committee members heard the remarks during the public input portion of the meeting and later proceeded to the scheduled agenda items, including the attendance presentation and policy readings.

Provenance: Topic begins with Matthew Egren's public comment introduction and ends when his remarks conclude and the agenda moves to the attendance presentation.

Ending: The committee acknowledged the comment as part of public input; no vote or formal staff assignment resulted from the remarks.