Stressing the Test

According to Teachers College at Columbia University, American students take more than 100 million standardized tests every year!  These test results are taken seriously by educators, parents, students, and local officials.  Standardized tests are stressful because of the way they are administrated and the high stakes nature.  Standardized tests are timed, include complex directions and ridged rules.  On top of that, students are not allowed to ask questions or obtain help from their teachers.  This pressure impacts both students and teachers. Stress around the test can impact both well prepared students and seasoned teachers. 

Here are some ways I help teachers, parents, and students stress less:

• At the beginning of the third quarter, I collaborated with the clinical team to write a newsletter to help teachers recognize and manage their own stress. 
• To help parents, we spend time at the PTA meeting talking about the upcoming test and how parents can support their children during the stressful season.  I raffled off Testing Survival Toolkits and the families loved them!

• During Parent Teacher Conferences, I set up a letter writing station where family members can write encouraging notes to their student to pump them up on testing mornings!

• Last but not least, I work with students in small groups to help recognize stress and learn stress reduction techniques.  Here are some examples of resources that I use in small groups.  While they are written for elementary aged students, there are important messages and fun activities that I have adapted to use with students in 7th and 8th grade as well.  The books pictured are: Wilma Jean the Worry Machine  by Julia Cook, Wilma Jean the Worry Machine Activity and Idea Book by Julia Cook, and The Big Test by Julie Danneberg.  I highly recommend adding all three of these to your library!

When all stakeholders have the strategies to beat testing stress, students will be able to show their full potential.  These stress reduction techniques are not only important for testing situations, but can also be applied in other high stress situations.  I hope this helps you to stress less!