test

High stakes testing is very common today , and all teachers must be ready to deal with it in their classrooms . Preparing students to take these tests is important so that students do well , school funding continues and the schools are rated well . This is especially true since the No Child Left Behind act (NCLB ) passed . Whether or not these tests are really worth anything is another matter , but they are a fact of school life

Preparing students to meet the challenges on the test is very important Teachers should be familiar with

the format of the tests and the material on it , and should center their lesson plans around the material from day 1

To a lesser extent , teachers should also center their plans around test format (possibly by including old tests as practice during weekly homework . Students who are familiar with the test format , including types of questions , multiple choice tests , and timed tests , will do better than students who have not had practice in this area . For this reason , students should take practice tests that use actual questions from old tests . They should take tests in the course of normal classroom work that are in this format some of the time . In the last few weeks leading up to the test , students should practice with the test format daily , perhaps in the first 10 - 15 minutes of class

Students should not be allowed to rely on reference tables on the tests because reference tables are only part of the issue . Students need to know how to use the material in the reference tables , and so should be encouraged to memorize it as much as possible . Teachers need to emphasize truly understanding formulas , charts , graphs , etc . from the test by asking the students to use it in a variety of situations throughout the year

One interesting problem in gearing too much instruction to the test is that students don 't learn the material truly , they learn the test . So especially in to encourage students to learn and understand the material , teachers should aim to include plenty of labs , projects s , and other creative learning situations . This will help students to fully understand and be able to use the material on the test , while still preparing them to take the test...