TestTaking as a Genre: An Inquiry Into Standardized Testing

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Test-Taking as a GenreAn Inquiry Into
Standardized Testing
Presented by Jennifer Porter, Elizabeth Tester,
and Shannon Toole Ballentine Elementary Irmo,
South Carolina
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What we currently believe about high-stakes
testing

• It is not going away
• It should not be the curriculum
• Good test preparation can match good teaching
• High-stakes tests tell a very small part of a
  childs story

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Responsive Coaching

• The Bad
• Teachers began talking to their kids about
  standardized testing
• Students had lots of opportunities to practice
  what they were being told
• We threw money at the problem

• The Good
• Teachers began thinking about stamina and adding
  minutes to their independent reading blocks

• Reflective Coaching
• I believe teachers began talking to their
  children about testing because
• It is what we know
• We have been relatively successful in the past
• THAT IS WHAT I WAS DOING TO THEM

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The Results

• 99.2 of third graders, 96.5 of fourth graders,
  and 98.4 of fifth graders passed PACT
• Highest number ever of children in the Advanced
  category (21.4 of third graders, 15.4 of fourth
  graders, and 10.7 of fifth graders)
• A significant change in the way we were using our
  resources and preparing children for testing

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Planning with the Outcomes in Mind

• Read test questions first
• Know when to follow directions
• Know when to use prior knowledge
• Understand why test makers use words like best
  and most likely
• Use process of elimination
• Dont be afraid to guess when all else fails
• Read all text and graphics on a page
• Understand the purpose of standardized tests
• Really check your answers

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Hypothesized what kids knew already
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• Teachers and students discussed the purposes of
  reading

• Pleasure reading
• Reading for information
• Reading to take a test

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Students acted as researchers.
Teachers took a test in front of children. The
children collected strategies the teacher was
using.
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Research Results
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Students looked critically at tests for what
they did not understand.
Different ways to represent what students found.
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Students noticed patterns and sorted their
questions into categories.
Patterns were recorded on sticky notes and the
sticky notes were then grouped for commonalities.

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Students interpreted the patterns of
standardized tests.
Teachers and students named commonalities and
inferred the significance of the pattern to the
test taker.
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Students cut and sorted questions into groups
with commonalities. They were not given any
restrictions on how to do this.
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First Grade
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Third Grade
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Fifth Grade
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Students showed evidence of test taking
strategies.
Students took a test and utilized the strategies
they developed from the study. This student
created codes to mark strategy use and wrote a
key for us to understand his codes.
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Key PA Process of Alimanation, H Head, S
Looked Back at the Story, R Have to
Remember,
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Students wrote test questions and played Beat
the Teacher.
This text was used to demonstrate text that can
look difficult but be rather easy to read
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Feedback from Children
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Testing is not teaching, but we can teach how to
comprehend the standardized tests that are a
reality in the lives of our children. Linda
Hoyt