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Somebody Needs You

Prepare Students for
Long, Dull Tests

This strategy for reaching uninspired students is one that Larry Bell includes in the “Sixteen Correctible Errors Made By Loving, Caring Teachers That Totally Annihilate At-Promise Students’ Chances of Passing a Standardized Test” section of his “Closing the Achievement Gap Workshop -- Part 2.” See the sidebar for more information about this workshop and others.

Most states give standardized tests where students must sit for 3 hours a day. Sometimes students must sit for days at a time, bubbling in questions for uninterrupted 3-hour blocks. Yet, as I walk through schools across the country, I witness many teachers giving weekly or biweekly assessments that last just 15 to 20 minutes.

Why is it, I wonder, that teacher tests are so short in this time of standardized testing? If educators know that at the end of the year their students are going to need to sit for 3-hour blocks of testing, why on Earth would they give tests throughout the year that last 15, 20, or 25 minutes at the most?

By giving short tests throughout the year, we are actually training our students to fail. That makes no sense to me, yet it’s what I see happening over and over again in school after school.

Meet Larry Bell Larry Bell is an award-winning educator and in-demand speaker. His inspirational messages have keynoted numerous conferences, including the national conferences of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and the National Association of Multicultural Education. Larry travels America and the world presenting his "Closing the Achievement Gap" and "The Power of a Teacher Through High Expectations" seminars, which focus on practical ideas for improving test scores and helping at-promise students achieve success. Check Larry Bell's Web page to see if one of those workshops is coming to a city near you, to learn about his book, 12 Powerful Words That Increase Test Scores and Help Close the Achievement Gap, or to directly contact him about coming to your school district.

Not only do I see teachers giving tests that are too short, I see them actually encouraging students to finish those tests quickly. And rewarding students who do that. On more than a few occasions I have heard a teacher say, “If you finish early, you can put your head down on your desk.” Or a teacher might say, “When you finish, you can take out something to read.”

But what does encouraging quick finishes tell our at-promise students? It tells them “I didn’t finish my homework for another class, so here’s a great time to get it done. I’ll hurry up and finish.” It also tells an at-promise student “I’ve got a motorcycle or skateboarding magazine, and here is the perfect time to read it, so I’ll hurry up and put something on the test.”

And then the monster state tests roll around and these kids -- thanks to their yearlong training -- look at the answer sheet, look at the test booklet, look at the clock, and grab the answer sheet and just bubble away as quickly as they can. Why shouldn’t they? They’ve been trained that way. They’re not use to going the full distance.

In sports, how does a coach know if his or her athletes have what it takes to go strong for 40 minutes? Does he bring the kids in to practice for 10 minutes a day and send them home? Not on your life! Any coach will tell you that she makes practice harder than the game.

I contend that we are not training our students for the marathon of standardized testing. We must lengthen the weekly and biweekly assessment tests that we give during the school year.

I believe that every teacher can give tests all year long that are comprehensive and prepare students to go the distance when they sit down to take standardized tests. If a teacher’s test is not going to fill a class period -- which I say it should -- then that teacher should take some material from the previous test and put it on the new test.

What will testing old material accomplish? you ask. First of all, it will provide opportunities all year long to review important material and concepts. That’s especially important for at-promise kids. They have a tendency to forget material that was on the last test because they don’t see connections from unit to unit and test to test.

More important, though, retesting previously covered content will make a longer test. It will get students use to sitting and working an entire class period. It will get them use to concentrating and focusing for an hour at a time. It will train them for those marathon tests they face at the end of the year.

Another way to build a test up to last a whole class period -- or more -- is to put items from last year’s tests at the beginning or end of your test. Even better, choose from last year’s tests some of the items that a lot of kids missed when they took the tests. If your state doesn’t allow teachers to look at tests from previous years, every teacher has some idea of the kinds of questions that were on those tests. They know from disaggregating test data the kinds of questions on which kids did most poorly.

I might even take that thought another step. Why not put last year’s most-often missed questions on every single test? Sometimes put them at the beginning of the test. At other times, put them at the end when kids might be starting to lose their focus.

In addition, I beg teachers not to give reinforcement for students who finish the test quickly. As a matter of fact, I think we should penalize students for finishing the test too soon. Tell them that if they finish early, they must sit quietly, look straight ahead. No sleeping allowed. No reading a book allowed. The only thing they are allowed to do is to go back over the test to double-check their work.

Another way to lengthen a test is to include writing sections on your tests. If you already know that 40 percent of the state tests your students will take involve writing, then why not focus 40 percent of your weekly or biweekly assessments on writing? That, to me, is just common sense.

Some standardized tests are multiple-choice. They require students to answer question after question in that format. If that’s the case with some elements of your state tests, then you should be giving similar tests to your elementary, middle, or high school students. Give them 100 questions. Give them 45 minutes to complete the test. Record when the first kid finishes and record when the last student finishes, and adjust the test length accordingly. This kind of practice will prepare them for the marathon end-of-year tests. It will train them to work hard, focus, and keep moving forward.

Let’s not kid ourselves. We need to lengthen tests. It’s not fair to our kids to take tests all year long that take 15, 20, or 30 minutes and then have to sit for 3 hours for our state tests or for the SATs or ACTs. Creating longer tests for students will help them review important content and prepare them for the long haul.

Please don’t train your students for failure. You have in your hand the power to help every child succeed.

My friends, somebody needs you.
Larry Bell

Article by Larry Bell
Copyright © 2007 Education World®

01/03/2007