Test Readiness

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has placed a greater emphasis on standardized tests and, thereby, test preparation. Instructors, parents, and schools can employ a number of strategies to improve students' test readiness and ensure that students perform to the best of their abilities on standardized tests. Some of these strategies include curriculum integration, test prep homework, school-wide test prep weeks, extending the school day, and the use of products from private test prep companies. Schools and teachers also need to be aware of the barriers they may face – such as a lack of resources or poor instruction quality – so that they may address and overcome these obstacles.

Keywords Adequate Yearly Progress; Curriculum Integration; Experiential Learning; High-Stakes Testing; Mini Lessons; No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB); Remediation; Standardized Testing; Test Preparation; Test Readiness; Test-Taking Strategies

Testing & Evaluation > Test Readiness

Overview

Test readiness has become a major concern for schools, districts and states as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has brought the improvement student proficiency to the forefront of education. Because of the consequences NCLB attaches to poor test scores, instructors need to insure that their students are as prepared as they can be to perform their best on standardized tests.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires students to be assessed in mathematics and language arts in grades three through eight as well as at least once during high school by the 2005- 2006 school year. By the 2007-2008 school year, states will also have to assess their students in science – at least once in grades three through five, once in grades six through nine, and once in grades ten through twelve. NCLB also mandates that each state pose challenging academic content standards and align these content standards to the assessments. The act, however, does not define content standards, set states' performance standards, or detail the type of assessments or cutoff scores that should be used, leaving these determinations up to each individual state.

In accordance with the percentage of students who function at or above proficiency, NCLB determines the standards states will use to set their annual measurable objectives. These objectives then are used to measure the annual yearly progress of schools, districts, and states, and determine the progress goals needed to ensure that every student will achieve proficiency by 2014.

If an insufficient percentage of students pass state tests, schools have not made adequate yearly progress. Sanctions are implemented on the institutions that fail to meet the annual yearly progress for two years or more; the consequences are constantly increasing in severity for schools that continue to miss their targets. Students can be transferred to other schools, staff replaced, and funding withdrawn. Eventually, the state may take over the school (Linn, 2005).

Curriculum Integration

Many children find it difficult to demonstrate their knowledge under standardized test conditions, and integrating test preparation into daily lessons can help instructors determine and correct any difficulties their students may have. Curriculum integration provides students with the strategies they need to be successful when taking tests and are a part of an instructor's lesson plan. Examples of curriculum integration include the following (Taylor & Walton, 2001):

• For states that require students to prove their reasoning abilities by writing short answers, students should be required to frequently write short answer responses and receive feedback on their responses. Instructors can also give their students examples of high-quality responses and, providing guidance as necessary, have them identify the characteristics of a good short answer response. This can help students work through any troubles they may have with writing their responses.

• Since standardized tests require students to work independently, classes that are usually group oriented and collaborative in nature should have periods of time each day during which students have to work on their own. This will accustom them to working on problems independently.

• To alleviate the anxiety that can sometimes arise during high-stakes testing or any testing situation, instructors can encourage students to express their concerns in order to identify exactly what it is that makes them anxious. Instructors can teach their students some stress relieving exercises, such as slow breathing, meditation exercises. These can be practiced in class and used before classroom quizzes and tests.

• Keeping in mind that most standardized tests tend to use language, speech patterns or testing formats that may not be familiar to every school or district, instructors should expose their students to many different kinds of exams and testing formats to better prepare them for the state-wide exams. An example of this would be to present mathematics problems both vertically and horizontally, despite whether or not the classroom textbook presents both ways. Instructors might also use different terms to cover the same concept - subtract, minus, take away, find the difference, etc. - to help students recognize unfamiliar terms in a standardized testing situation.

If there is no time to integrate test preparation into the curriculum, instructors can present mini lessons on standardized testing instead. These lessons should begin about two weeks before the test date; last between thirty and fifty minutes, depending on how much assistance students need; and be sequenced so that each lesson builds on the previous lesson. While complete test preparation curriculum integration may be a more effective strategy to use, these mini lessons can provide students with structured opportunities to learn test-taking abilities. However, students should also have experiential learning opportunities to practice the techniques presented and understand how they can benefit them on the test date (Taylor & Walton, 2001).

Standardized Tests

In order to help students demonstrate their knowledge and do as well as they can on standardized tests, there are several things instructors can do (Taylor & Walton, 2001):

• Determine the characteristics and literacy format of a particular test in order to teach their students how to read them and determine what the test item or test is assessing.

• Help students develop their test-taking strategies, such as 'answer what you know first,' 'if you get stuck, pass over it and move on to the next question,' 'underline important information,' and 'using the process of elimination.

• Provide opportunities for students to work together and talk about the strategies that help them most so that they can identify which strategies are effective and which ones are ineffective. This can help students gain awareness of what taking a standardized test entails and how to handle sucha process.

• Work with students in examining various test formats and language to help them recognize which strategies are useful for each format and language.

These techniques can prove effective for students who are struggling with standardized testing by providing experiential learning opportunities and instruction.

Applications

Because of the consequences for failing to meet progress targets, the No Child Left Behind Act has made testing a truly high-stakes proposition for schools, districts, and states. As a result, schools and districts have developed new methods for preparing their students to demonstrate proficiency on standardized tests.

Parental Involvement

With all the testing now required by states and the limited amount of classroom time available provide preparation on every subject, instructors are looking for alternative ways to prepare their students. One way to increase instructional time is to involve students' parents in the learning process. Developing a parent outreach program brings parents in as an important member of the team needed to prepare students for test success. This can take some time and effort, but once parents buy into the program, they can be an invaluable asset for their children.

Early in the school year, when instructors first meet their students' parents, instructors should mention that the students will be taking very important tests, describe what each test will assess, and impress upon parents their importance to their child's success. The instructor can also give each parent a handout listing the tests and test dates as well as a 'save the date' flyer marking the dates and topics of family test preparation workshops. To garner parent interest, these workshops should be mentioned every time teachers communicate with parents, whether it's through a parent/teacher conference or a school newsletter. Another way to encourage parent participation is to give students extra credit if at least one of their parents attends the workshops. One last reminder could be a personal telephone call a day or two before each workshop to confirm attendance, or to persuade a parent to attend (Lam, 2004).

Workshops

The workshops do more than show families how they can help their children prepare for each test. They can convey a sense of purpose, lower student stress levels, and create a great working team striving toward a common goal—test success. In school districts where parents may have limited proficiency in English and may not be comfortable attending, older siblings, volunteers, and school aides can step in and help. The school principal's attendance can also be invaluable as it sends a message about the importance of the workshop and the school's seriousness about helping all its students perform their best.

To maintain interest and enthusiasm, workshops should be no more than two hours and should be held about five to seven weeks before each test. As part of the workshop, instructors should prepare a portfolio of each student's graded work and an accompanying sheet that describes the student's strengths and weaknesses in the subject area. Then an overview of the test, including the dates and times it will occur, should be provided again so parents know how to prepare their children, and how much time they will have. Instructors can walk the families through each test day's format and talk about the types of questions that will be asked. This helps bring home the importance of the test, and can alleviate anxiety for parents who may not know what will be expected of their children.

Practice Tests

Students can then take a short practice test that includes sample questions from the assessment. When they are finished, parents and students can share solutions, talk about any problems they may have had, go over what they answered correctly, and detail any test-taking strategies they used. They can also ask any questions they may have. After this is completed, the instructor can go over test-taking strategies that students may find useful and recommend that parents help them at home and regularly check their homework. If the assessment will cover reading comprehension, then a handout can be given to parents with questions they can ask their children abut the reading they do at home. If the assessment will include writing, then a standards-based rubric should be given out so they can check their child's writing against the rubric. For mathematics assessments, giving parents a handout that suggests different math games they can do with their child and ways to incorporate mathematics into their daily lives can be very helpful. A final handout that details additional resources available at the school, online, or in the bookstore or library makes a good ending for the workshop (Lam, 2004).

School Involvement

There are also some schools that are changing the way they help their students prepare for their high-stakes tests. These schools offer test-preparation sessions on Saturday mornings for students in grades three through twelve. These sessions can have fun activities, like competitions similar to game shows, which promote mathematics readiness and reading comprehension. Components can also be included which cover test preparation basics like eating well, making sure to get a good night's sleep the night beforehand, and only studying the concepts that are not already known and understood. There are also schools that transform themselves into a sort of an academic 'boot camp' the week before the test. Students move from fort to fort to practice different academic skills and have two evenings of additional work at a public library. Schools might even bring in retired military personnel as guest instructors for a week of testing drills.

Reducing Stress

Other schools try to decrease the stress of preparing for high-stakes tests. They might throw a beach party and let their students dress in flip-flops, T-shirts, and shorts; have a barbecue cookout to mark the start of testing week; begin test days with fifteen minutes of tai chi exercise; or ask instructors provide a breakfast for students on test mornings to insure that everyone eats well for sustained energy and alertness. These and other innovative ideas all strive to accomplish the same objective: make sure students do their absolute best on high-stakes tests ("Testing One-Two-Three," 2005).

Schools and school districts are also making adjustments to the traditional school calendar in an effort to retain their curriculum while still allotting extra time during the school day for test preparation. Some schools are experimenting with longer instructional days while others are considering extending the school year so that they can offer more remediation and enrichment opportunities to students. Unfortunately, schools which would like to extend services can be prevented from doing so by a lack of resources. And while some schools are taking a blanket approach to extending the school year, other schools are adding days only for those students who are working below grade level. In an attempt to meet the No Child Left Behind Act's adequate yearly progress goals, for example, a school board in Iowa voted to add 30 minutes to the school day only at the elementary schools that failed to meet adequate their yearly progress goals (Chmelynski, 2006).

Private Companies

Test preparation has also become big business for many test preparation companies and test developers. There are now websites that offer parents and educators state test readiness evaluations for the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, state-specific achievement assessments, and many others. At least one company provides overviews of the education standards for every state and, for a fee, provides academic skill assessments and skill-building activities, state test resources, and even child development workshops ("Extra Help for State Tests," 2000).

Viewpoints

Barriers & Obstacles

With so much renewed emphasis on test preparation and student proficiency, there can be some challenges to effective test preparation. One such obstacle can be that students' textbooks are not always very good. Textbooks can be encyclopedic in nature, describing everything related to a subject, rather than focusing on essential points. Some textbooks are not factually accurate, and a text can sometimes contradict information presented in class. Most textbook writing does not prompt students to relate the given material to any prior knowledge, and the relationships between various points inside a text are usually not made explicit (Britton, Gulgoz & Glynn, 1993, as cited in Pressley, Yokoi, van Meter, Van Etten & Freebern, 1997). In addition, the illustrations tend to be more decorative than explanatory (Levin, 1982; Woodward, 1993, as cited in Pressley et al., 1997). Often, they do not clarify important concepts or make them more memorable (Levin & Mayer, 1993, as cited in Pressley et al., 1997). The readability of textbooks can also be at odds with the intended student grade level.

Instructional quality also varies. Some teachers are simply better than other at conveying expectations and course information to their classes. Some instructors can be too vague or disorganized for their students to follow them, or, in the higher grades, present material too quickly for their students to take notes.

Strong note taking skills are often a key to students' success: information recorded in notes is more likely to be remembered by students later on (Aiken, Thomas & Shennum, 1975; Bretzing & Kulhavy, 1981; Kiewra & Fletcher, 1984, as cited in Pressley et al., 1997). And students who take notes are more likely to connect lecture content with prior lessons (Peper & Mayer, 1986, as cited in Pressley et al., 1997). However, instructors who do not separate the points they are making or who do not stick to their lecture outline make it difficult for students to take notes, since it is not made clear to them which points are important. Good instructors signal important points to their students by repeating them, writing them on the board, slowing down for emphasis, and sometimes by simply telling students that they are important.

Instructors also need to make sure that students know what types of questions to expect on the tests and how difficult the questions may be. Because test performance is maximized when students are given a test that is consistent with their expectations, it is important that instructors inform their students of the testing demands (Lundeberg & Fox, 1991, as cited in Pressley et al., 1997). This also allows students to adjust their test preparation strategies (Crooks, 1998, as cited in Pressley et al., 1997).

Conclusion

There are many suggestions for helping students prepare for tests, and new ideas presented practically every day. While not all of them will work in every school, the No Child Left Behind Act's ramifications for failing to meet progress targets make it crucial that schools and families do everything they can to help students perform their best on standardized tests.

Terms & Concepts

Adequate Yearly Progress: Adequate yearly progress, for No Child Left Behind Act purposes, means that test data must be collected and analyzed in relation to student learning to report student and school proficiency, and the standards that determine proficiency must be raised over time with an increased number of students meeting the standards.

Curriculum Integration: is a test readiness strategy that incorporates the skills and knowledge students will need for testing into daily lesson plans.

Experiential Learning: Experiential learning combines direct, real-world experience that is meaningful to the student with guided reflection and analysis provided as necessary.

High-Stakes Testing: High-stakes testing is the use of test scores to make decisions that have important consequences for individuals, schools, school districts, and/or states and can include high school graduation, promotion to the next grade, resource allocation, and instructor retention.

Mini Lessons: are a test readiness alternative to curriculum integration which introduces short lessons on test strategies into daily lessons in the weeks prior to testing.

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is the latest reauthorization and a major overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the major federal law regarding K-12 education.

Remediation: Remediation is the act or process of correcting a deficiency.

Standardized Testing: Standardized testing is the use of a test that is administered and scored in a uniform manner, and the tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent.

Test Readiness: The degree to which a student is prepared for testing.

Bibliography

43% of students met SAT readiness benchmark. (2012). Education USA (LRP Publications), 9, 6. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=82948157&site=ehost-live

Allington, R. L., & Gabriel, R. E. (2012). The best way to prepare students for high-stakes reading assessments. New England Reading Association Journal, 47, 1-3. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=74011853&site=ehost-live

Chmelynski, C. (2005). Extend school day and year for NCLB? Education Digest, 71 , 41-44.

Extra help for state tests (2000). THE Journal, 27 , 52. Retrieved August 12, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=3230150&site=ehost-live

Lam, L. (2004). Test success, family style. Educational Leadership, 61 , 44-47. Retrieved August 12, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=13088279&site=ehost-live

Linn, R. (2005). Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 104 , 79-98. Retrieved May 2, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=17238819&site=ehost-live

Online Preparation for High School Equivalency and College Readiness. (2012). Journal of Research & Practice for Adult Literacy, Secondary & Basic Education, 1, 185-188. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=86672462&site=ehost-live

Phelps, R. P. (2011). Teach to the test?. Wilson Quarterly, 35, 38-42. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=66423634&site=ehost-live

Pressley, M., Yokoi, L., van Meter, P., Van Etten, S. & Freebern, G. (1997). Some of the reasons why preparing for exams is so hard: What can be done to make it easier? Educational Psychology Review, 9 , 1-38. Retrieved August 12, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9708294535&site=ehost-live

Taylor, K. & Walton, S. (2001). Testing pitfalls. Instructor, 111 , 26. Retrieved August 12, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5330283&site=ehost-live

Testing one-two-three (2005). Curriculum Review, 45 , 6-7. Retrieved August 12, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=18625095&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading

Firestone, W., Schorr, R. & Monfils, L. (2004). The Ambiguity of Teaching to the Test: Standards, Assessment, and Educational Reform. Florence, KY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Greene, A. & Melton, G. (2007). Test Talk: Integrating Test Preparation into Reading Workshop. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Hamilton, L. (2002). Making Sense of Test-Based Accountability in Education 2002. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.

National Research Council (2003). Assessment in Support of Instruction and Learning . Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Taylor, K. & Walton, S. (1998). Children at the Center: A Workshop Approach to Standardized Test Preparation, K-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.