The Secret Spill
Monday, April 30th, 2012

Nadine Gilkison, fourth grade teacher at South Creek Elementary (Indianapolis, IN), created a new video called The Secret Spill. The video focuses specifically on standardized testing in math. She shares a common-sense approach to help students show what they know on the test. [read more...]

Multiple-Choice Strategies for Standardized Tests
Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

The multiple-choice portion of state and national assessments requires different thinking than the applied skills part. Students need specific test-taking tips for attacking multiple-choice questions on literacy skills. [read more...]

Test-Prep Motivators
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

Several teachers sent information about ISTEP Pep Assemblies they hosted prior to testing week. Many hosted special dress-up spirit days. There are some really creative educators out there delivering test-prep tips and Test Lady™ reminders to students! [read more...]

Constructed Responses Require Textual Evidence
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

Constructed response questions in standardized testing require students to draw conclusions and support those inferences with evidence from the text. However, flipping back to the passage is not a habit most students have built; they would prefer to simply generalize their reasons. [read more...]

Test-Prep Bumper Stickers
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

Bumper stickers are a fast, fun way for students to communicate encouraging sentiments and prepare for standardized testing. Teacher Pam Addison had her fifth graders write last-minute reminders and words of encouragement to their peers. She posted them in the hallway for all students to view. [read more...]

3 Test-Reading & 3 Test-Writing Tips
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

The kind of reading students do for standardized tests is often very different from the experiences we provide in the classroom. It's not different in content. It's not different in genre. It's not even different in vocabulary. It's different in length! [read more...]

Quick Tip for Multiple-Choice Test Taking
Thursday, April 28th, 2011

Whether your students are taking an End-of-Course Assessment, an SAT or ACT, or your state assessment, there will always be multiple-choice questions on the exam. Here's a simple test-taking tip that might help some of your students. [read more...]

Helping Students Identify the Main Idea of Any Text
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

When teaching students about main idea, scaffold your instruction. Students need to first learn how to identify the concrete and literal before they can determine the inferential. Here's a series of skills to slowly work through with your readers. [read more...]

Targeting Reading Skills on State Assessments
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

When state assessments are right around the corner, a litte boost can help. Although we all know skills are to be taught throughout the year rather than in a two-week blitz, here are a couple of considerations that might push your students to achieve higher scores. [read more...]

Applying Principles of Question-Answer Relationship
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Because question types vary, students need to learn the different kinds of questions and how each requires different kinds of answers. For many students it never occurred to them that there was anything other than an obvious, right-there question to ask. [read more...]

Thinking Beyond the Details to Identify the Theme
Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Students need to read for close-up, tiny details, but they also have to think beyond the text and make inferences. We need to help students learn to draw conclusions and identify the bigger picture, the main idea, or the theme. To get kids [read more...]

Require Students to Reference the Text
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

A large portion of most state standardized tests include students writing an extended-response prompt. This requires students to read a passage and then write to a prompted topic. The bulk of a writer’s score is based on how he supports his thinking with examples and evidence from [read more...]

Writing Test Questions that Parallel the State Assessment
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

Instead of having an exact answer within the multiple choice possibilities, you might be less definitive. Standardized tests often ask a “most likely” question. For example, Which of these words MOST LIKELY reflects the author’s general attitude toward life on [read more...]

Seek Magazines with Short Nonfiction Passages
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Students face multiple reading passages on the state assessment. Not only are there multiple choice and open-ended questions that follow the reading selections, but students must also write to an extended-response prompt. This requires [read more...]

Paralleling In-Class Assessments with the State Exam
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Consider including 1-2 short essay questions (a paragraph response or more) on assessments in grades 3 and up. Look for responses that include an introduction, body, and conclusion. And require students to provide reasons, evidence, examples, or support for their ideas. Don’t let them [read more...]

Citing Evidence from the Reading
Monday, May 19th, 2008

Most states target a read-write prompt on standardized tests. This is where students need to write an extended response to a reading passage. The Test Lady™ requires an essential component for that portion--cite two different examples from the reading to support your thinking. [read more...]

Reading for the 6 Traits of Writing
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Ask students to read like writers. Put them in small groups, decide on which trait(s) to focus on for the day's reading and require students to keep rigorous documentation. Require students to reference the text with specific examples. This "citation" component is a key factor [read more...]