Research shows that most students who received test-wiseness training scored much higher than did students of equal ability who had no training. Familiarity with the test format, the test-taking situation, and the conventions of the test contribute to good performance. (MT)

Outlines the benefits of test taking skills, especially for low ability and disadvantaged students, and suggests that achievement tests provide valid assessments only of students with the requisite test taking skills. Offers 13 strategies for teachers to prepare students for testing. Contains 19 references. (SV)

A discussion of appropriate ways of preparing students to take standardized tests is presented for school administrators. The point at which preparation practices move beyond the ethical depends on the inferences one wishes to draw from test scores. Inferences drawn from test scores are general in nature and will be inaccurate if instruction is…

Test-taking skills should be part of learning-disabled students' instruction. Student performance on previous tests should be analyzed to determine lack of information, carelessness, misinterpretation, material not studied, or incorrect reading. Notetaking techniques, language problems, and special problems presented by essay tests and math tests…

Offers strategies for improving student scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Covers three areas: improvement in instructional quality in high schools; analysis and refinement of opportunities for students to demonstrate and practice test-taking skills; and enhancement of understanding and support among parents, community, and staff. (PGD)

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: In general, coaching improves student scores on achievement and aptitude tests--including the SAT--but not very much. While the SAT is not invulnerable to coaching programs, only a few students have found impressive results. Coaching produces the following average gains: On the SAT, .15 standard…

This handbook guides teachers through nine workshops designed to share strategies for success on writing tests. The workshops in the handbook give practical ideas that can be implemented in the elementary classroom to set the stage for test success without compromising children's growth as writers. Following a foreword by Michael R. Sampson and…

The Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA) is New Jersey's test for fourth graders. It is designed to give the school information about how well students are achieving in the areas required by New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards. This guide offers parents, students, and teachers information about the ESPA. The parent…

This final report describes the activities, results, and conclusions of a 3-year project whose major purpose was to improve test-taking skills of learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered students, with respect to standardized achievement tests. The project concluded that: learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered students exhibit deficits…

This book is meant to be a guide to standardized reading tests, to help teachers live with tests. Standardized, norm-referenced reading tests are a fact of life for most teachers. The suggestions in this book are drawn form the experience of teachers in the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College, Columbia University. Part…

Educational solutions to the problem of test anxiety were explored. Test anxiety has a debilitating effect on performance which increases over the school years. The solution is, first, to measure test anxiety so that the extent of it, as well as the effectiveness of programs designed to alleviate it, can be measured. The seven-item Comfort Index,…

Suggestions for students, parents, and teachers on how to prepare students to take standardized tests are presented. The value of deliberate efforts to teach students test-taking skills is supported by research. Activities to prepare students include the following: (1) teachers should develop some of their tests and worksheets in formats similar…

Gives examples of major sources of unreliability in multiple choice items in health professions classroom achievement tests (clues to response combinations, mutually exclusive alternatives, implausible distractors) and offers some suggestions for eliminating them when writing such tests. (MF)

The ACT Assessment is a measure of skills in English, mathematics, reading, and science reasoning necessary for college coursework. This booklet includes four sections designed to help the assessment user. Section 1, "Components of the ACT Assessment," contains general information about the assessment for counselors and college advisors…

The 12 volumes of the professional journal contain articles on a wide variety of topics on classroom techniques, curriculum design, class activities, and research in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching at all educational levels. General topics include: communicating with ESL students; current events in the classroom; cultural test bias;…