How 7 Teachers Help Their Classes Prepare for State Assessments

Friday, January 4, 2019

Before you know it, state assessment season will be here. How do you help your students prepare for the biggest test of the year? We asked teachers on our Facebook page to share their best review tips with us. Here’s how seven teachers help their classes prepare for state assessments:

1. “I like to review spirally throughout the year, so content is always fresh in students’ minds.” – Erin P.

Pusheen

2. “Playing games makes test prep fun!” – Julie W.

Sony

3. “Demonstrate how the skills can be successfully used in their everyday lives as we review, reteach, paraphrase, draft, edit and write not only paragraphs but detailed sentences as well.” – Tammie C.

4. “Practice practice practice! We talk about why the wrong answers are tempting as well as what's the right answer!” – Payton D.

TED-Ed & KAPWA Studioworks

5. “I teach 3rd so it's their first time taking the tests and [they] are really nervous. I make each of them their very own testing bug buddy that they can take with them each time. It sits by the computer or they hold it to help them remember to breath [sic] and [it] reminds them that these tests don't define who they are. They are amazed at how well they actually do. Love it!” – Belynda P.

Stick Figure Girl

6. “Test taking strategies, how [to use] the tools on the computer to highlight, enlarge print, read questions first, then the passage.” – Connie W.

Bronwyn Maloney

7. “I'm a special education teacher, most of my students take an alternate assessment, so we try to pick standards that we can relate to IEP goals or functional life skills.” – Kate L.