NCLB Watch: LOOKING BACK IN SADNESS

Testing as a Life Skill

By Kimberly Yash

I taught for the past three years in a Public School with quarterly benchmark testing. I did not agree with using a child's test results as the sole indication of their progress in school. However, the reality was that the state used the tests in that way. Therefore, I tried to use the benchmark tests to teach test-taking skills. I know from my own life experience that I had to take many tests in college and for various certifications.

So I used the benchmark tests as a way to help the children see how they took tests. I would give the tests and ask the students to do their best, explaining that this was juts practice and it did not reflect their ability as students. Then we would go over the test after it was finished and discuss ways that we could find the answers as well as test-taking strategies like underlining the questions and numbering their parts.

My students became very engaged in this process. An amazing thing took place. They had less anxiety when they tested and were better able to recognize helpful cognitive processes. We did not spend excessive time on the tests or during the traditional test crunch time a month before the state tests. However, the students performed better than any of the other classes in the school. I learned that we could dissect test taking and thereby spend less time preparing with better results.

While I do not fundamentally agree with tests at all, I also do not feel I should ignore the future of tests that affect my students in high school and college.

Kimberly Yash taught in the Cincinnati Public Schools. She now teachers at the Montessori School of Warsaw in Warsaw, Poland.