The Educator’s Ultimate Guide to Preparing for High-Stakes Testing
The Educator’s Ultimate Guide to Preparing for High-Stakes Testing
Although it may feel like schools are just getting back into the swing of things after winter break, and that spring high-stakes testing is ages away, you’d be surprised how quickly it approaches. Between making sure that you are staying on pace with curriculum guides, practicing test-taking procedures and strategies, and providing the targeted preparation and reinforcement individual students need, time will fly, and spring state testing can quickly begin to feel overwhelming.
The good news is that a little research and planning can go a long way toward ensuring that you’re able to provide the support students need to be successful on their state assessments. So, take a deep breath—we’ve gathered some of our top resources on test preparation to help you do just that.
Classroom Practice Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices
Test prep doesn’t have to dominate your classroom agenda this spring. By utilizing formative assessment strategies and making the most of practice testing, teachers can provide students with individualized support without sacrificing time from the standard curriculum (and of course, some fun!). Check out these resources to get started.
[Classroom Practice] Are Your Students Using Effective Learning Techniques?
With so many study techniques out there, how do you know which ones work? In this post, we dive into the research and discover which techniques can improve knowledge attainment and retention, and how to put these techniques to use most effectively.
5 Proven Ways to Get the Most Out of Practice Testing
The old adage “practice makes perfect” is a familiar turn of phrase for a reason. Ensure that you’re getting the most out of every minute your students are spending on practice testing.
3 Ways Online Practice Can Support Your Test-Prep Program
As you are considering different options to ensure that your students have achieved standards proficiency, it’s critical that you have a program that’s aligned to your state's standards. Consider this and other benefits of using an online program.
Setting a Benchmark Strategy That Meets Your Needs
When preparing for high-stakes testing, it’s important to capture your student’s baseline understanding before beginning rigorous practice. Consider this blog that highlights the benefits of having a well-executed benchmark strategy in your classroom.
Marzano-Validated Best Practices for Online Practice
The Edmentum research team partnered with Marzano Research to conduct a peer review of research that Edmentum conducted for the classroom practice and assessment program, Study Island. Marzano confirmed our findings about the effectiveness of Study Island, and their work helped uncover four best practices to help students get the most out of online practice.
Testing Tips for Administrators, Educators, and Parents
No matter the exact situation, testing is a stressful process. But successful test taking, beyond content knowledge, is also a skill that can be taught, acquired, and mastered. Here are some of our best general test-taking tips to help ensure upcoming state assessments go as smoothly as possible!
8 Last-Minute Steps Districts Can Take to Improve Test Scores
Administrators may not feel like they have a direct hand in making sure that students are well-prepared for state assessments. But there is no shortage of steps administrators can take to ensure that their teachers and students have what they need for a successful state testing—even when it comes down to the wire.
Each year, high-stakes testing brings a variety of emotions and stress for both students and teachers. Help combat testing anxiety for your students with these tips on cultivating a productive classroom environment, teaching effective test-taking strategies, and leveraging mindfulness as your test-prep secret weapon.
8 Tips for Parents to Help Your Child Prepare for High-Stakes Tests
Parents and other caregivers are critical to every student’s education journey. So, get them involved in the test preparation process! Share these eight simple tips with parents to help them support their learners on testing days.
[Teacher Tips] Getting Ready for Testing
Whether you’re a testing-season veteran or a first-year teacher ready to take on testing in your classroom for the first time, it’s easy to get stressed out when testing season rolls around. To help make this time of year a little easier on you, we’ve put together a few educator-approved tips for getting your classroom and your students ready to rock testing this year!
Ready to take your test preparation program to the next level? Check out Study Island, Edmentum’s online solution for classroom practice and formative assessment. You can even start your FREE Study Island trial today! If you’re looking for more test-preparation resources, check out and download our FREE test preparation toolkit!
This blog post was originally posted on January 25, 2019 and has been updated.
