Try teaching Vygotsky style in a "No Child Left Behind" world. The probelm is we are leaving them behind, because we refuse to see that everyone does not need to fit into the round hole all nicely and neatly. It is more difficult each year to teach for the sake of learning and understanding when we constatly have assessments that need to have good scores. Teach for the love of learning or teach to get the test results the district wants. I try to do both as a firm believer in the test will have good reulsts if I teach them what they need to know. Then the state tests them on things they tell us the student should be able to do with help and you can't help them on the test.
Since education tends to be cyclical this too shall pass, but at what price... learning!