Put to the Test

Used to be that the pencil-biting, butterflies-in-the-stomach torment
of taking standardized tests was reserved for older children. But in
some public schools, test-taking is now starting as early as the second
grade. Whether or not you're in favor of the amount or even the use of
standardized tests today, you may be pretty confused about your role in
your children's test-taking. Should you be involved in helping your
kids prepare in a hands-on way? If so, what and how much preparation
are you supposed to do?

It's not a new phenomenon, by any means, but the hyped-up test culture
in this country underwent a marked expansion in the late 1990s, when
the increased testing of children in their graduation years was
implemented to determine how individual schools were doing. Before
long, this led to an increase in the general anxiety surrounding many
schools' low scores, and ultimately placed further emphasis on
standardized testing via No Child Left Behind, says Monty Neill, EdD,
codirector of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing (www.fairtest.org), a nonprofit that advocates for the fair, open and valid assessment of all students.

In recent years, children have begun taking these important tests at
increasingly younger ages. Federal law now requires that standardized
exams be administered to kids as soon as the third grade. The ongoing
pressure to prepare these young children for their upcoming
examinations has even filtered down into kindergarten. While it's true
that kids need to refine their test-taking skills before encountering
the main event, Dr. Neill says that they are much better off preparing
in the third grade for the third grade. "We're in an intense test
climate that is crowding out healthy learning activities," he asserts.
"What's more, tests in every state are inadequate measures of what kids
really need to know and need to know how to do. They are limited tools
for assessing thinking skills, the application of knowledge,
problem-solving and more."

Schools that place too much empha-sis on test preparation and
test-taking may ultimately be denying children the rich, well-rounded
education they deserve, adds Dr. Neill. "Only paying attention to these
exams and their specific focus is like eating a candy bar before a
race," he explains. "You might get a quick boost, but there's no
protein to sustain your energy." After all, with-out being exposed to
the substantive reading, writing and thinking that a great education
demands, what are our children really learning?

Research shows that a more thoughtful, measured approach can also help
improve your child's test scores. In any case, it will certainly prove
to be more enjoyable for him than undergoing relentless test
preparation. And it's not hard to broaden your child's current
education, either. A good way to start is by encouraging him to read a
variety of material, then asking him to answer specific questions about
what he's learned. Choose material that he's interested in and then
expand the selection. Next, help him become interested in writing more,
possibly by arranging for him to exchange letters with a pen pal with
whom he can talk about kid things. This peer-to-peer interaction will
go a long way toward helping him become more comfortable with writing
as a whole.

So, too, will writing about other things he knows, like his community,
his family, his school or his circle of friends. If he likes art, you
might ask him to draw or paint pictures to illustrate the words that he
writes. This will give him an even greater sense of comfort with
writing in general and should eventually improve his written scores on
upcoming examinations.

When it comes to boosting your child's mathematical skills, however,
Dr. Neill advocates taking a much more straightforward approach. In
this situation, it's important to regularly check your child's
homework, to make sure that he's grasping all the basic concepts he's
being taught. You may also want to make sure that his teacher is
focusing on long-term learning, not just short-term test preparation.
Here again, the research suggests that maintaining a narrow-minded
focus on improving test scores is less helpful (even come examination
time) than emphasizing the need for deeper comprehension. When it comes
to math, your child should ultimately be able to apply what he's
learned in both hypothetical and real-life scenarios. Look at his
homework, but also ask him to use mathematical formulas when he's just
hanging out around the house (measuring out the ingredients you use for
recipes, adding together the coins you've saved in the cookie jar) or
walking around town (counting money in the grocery store checkout line,
estimating distances on the street).
Should you personally help your child prepare for his upcoming tests by
subjecting him to a battery of questions? Not necessarily. In fact, try
to avoid this when at all possible, counsels Dr. Neill: "Your school is
probably doing too much of this already." If you still feel a burning
desire to be directly involved, try helping your child develop his
problem-solving skills. Start by seeking out an old version of one of
the standardized tests (some states offer these) or purchasing test
preparation materials. Carefully cut the tests into strips, each of
them featuring a single question. Put the strips in a bowl and ask your
child and some of his friends to draw individual questions from the
bunch, then get them to discuss the thinking behind the answers. This
will help the kids gain a deeper understanding of where the test makers
are coming from.

As for recruiting outside help? "Tutors can be effective in helping
students, and that's why some parents hire them," affirms Dr. Neill. If
you ultimately decide to hire a tutor for your child, however, try to
remember that the tutor's ultimate goal should be to get him to think
more compre-hensively about the many facets of his life and
education—and not just about how he will do in test-taking situations,
Dr. Neill says.

Whatever scores your child receives on his exams, you both need to know
that tests, as popular as they are, don't always assess everything—and
what they do assess, they don't necessarily assess well. As Dr. Neill
points out, "Many of the most important attributes your child can
develop, like interpersonal intelligence, good citizenship and an
appreciation of art and culture, are not measured by standardized
tests." And that's a lesson worth remembering.

The Right Answer
What's the secret to confidence when it comes to standardized tests?