Written by Eileen McGuire, Dean of LCA’s International Baccalaureate Program.
It is that time of year again! Computer carts will be scattered around the building, peppermints will be passed around, and rooms and hallways will be extra quiet. Standardized testing begins! Standardized tests are part of life, at least for our young people. LCA students take the Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress (NWEA MAP) three times per year. This test is responsive, meaning questions are generated based on the student’s achievement on previous questions. Two students in the same class can experience very different MAP tests. Later, our students will take high school placement tests and, eventually, college board exams. I was recently asked for my thoughts on “best practices” to prepare kids for standardized testing. My lengthy answer will strike some as paradoxical, but I speak from years of observations and experience.
As with anything we ask children to do, we want to prepare them enough so that they feel comfortable with the task. There are some ways families can help students prepare for standardized tests.
My top suggestions include:
- Make sure your child attends school as often as possible when school is in session. Regular attendance leads to growth in measurable and immeasurable ways. In life, it is important to show up.
- Help your child establish good sleep habits.
- Provide a breakfast that includes protein. Thinking burns calories.
- On test days, students will sit still more than usual. Plan for extra after school exercise and play time.
- Help your child become an avid reader. Go to the library and let him/her choose books to read for pleasure. Most standardized tests, including math and science tests, require reading. More importantly, reading is a wonderful independent activity.
- Prepare a homework area that is quiet and allows for focus. Some regular homework at LCA is geared toward growth in areas tested on the MAP.
- De-emphasize the test. Your child is not a number. More on that later.
As a prerequisite to become a National Blue Ribbon School, LCA had to show that in grades 3-8, our students as a group performed in the top 15% in the nation on MAP tests. We can be proud of the work our students and teachers do each day to foster academic growth. But what I’m most proud of at LCA is that we prioritize interesting, engaging, thought provoking lessons and experiences that honor the brilliance of children and the precious gift of childhood. We do not micromanage student growth on standardized tests, nor do we promote spending an enormous amount of time on “test prep.”
Always keep in mind what standardized tests can and cannot measure. Here is a quote from NWEA MAP:
“All achievement scores are estimates of a student’s status on a trait (such as “science knowledge”). Since that trait cannot be seen, it is frequently referred to as a latent trait. And since the trait cannot be seen, neither can a student’s status on the trait. At best, we can infer where the student stands with respect to the trait by having the student answer a range of questions that have been anchored in the trait in terms of their relative difficulty. However, we always know that this inference is not conclusive.”
In addition, standardized tests cannot measure a child’s:
- Commitment to care for a pet
- Level of empathy shown toward a friend or family member in need
- Sense of humor
- Ability to move people musically or in the theater
- Leadership skills
- Courage to persevere through challenge
- Determination to focus on a personal interest
- Value
Increasingly, our world is filled with data. One of the most important things we can commit to as teachers and you can commit to as parents is to never make children feel like a collection of “data points.” Resist the urge to focus on a child’s achievement number in any domain. You won’t regret that commitment. Your child is not a number. He is not his GPA. She is not her ACT score. He is not his mile time and she is not her batting average. Your child is a unique, precious gift. Before you know it, your child will fly from your home into the world. May they always know who they really were to you.
