Achievement Testing

My LD son has had lots of them, as well as standardized testing. I just tell him that they want to know what he knows. I also emphasize that he won’t know all the answers because they make some parts of it really hard. I explain to him that a few kids can do it but not most but that they need to see what all kids can do. I think this helps reduce his panic when he doesn’t know the answer.

Great question but my answer may be off the beaten track. For what purpose does your school administer these tests? The answer to that could and probably should figure into what you tell your students.

In my school, acheivement tests are given for no good reason. We don’t use the results in any way and that we give them is really just an expression of a long standing tradition rather than any well-thought out policy. I actually tell my students that in a way they can understand. I tell them nothing is done with the results. They get filed on a shelf and therefore they should not be anxious about these tests. However, doing them is good practice for the tests they might take one day called SATS so “try your best but don’t worry about the results.”

That works for my students very well but if your school would use the results as my school does not then for you it would not be a truthful answer. In the case that your school uses the results, try telling the truth that even though the tests seem hard most kids do very well on them and you’re sure they’ll do well on them too.

Or explain to them that it’s really a test to see how well the school is doing but the only way to do that is to test the students. Ask them how would they test how well a car factory is doing? By driving the cars. In a school, we don’t make cars, we produce learning. The only way to measure how much learning is coming out of the school is to test the students. Tell them you’re sorry about that but encourage them to understand how important it is for the school to know whether it’s doing a good job or not.

Prior to testing, I tell the student:

“This test will not be graded nor will it make you pass or fail. It will tell your teacher how you work best in math, reading, spelling,….” etc.
This usually does the trick because I have found that their greatest fear is failing.

Additionally, I may tell a student that the test is for people ages 6-60 (for example). Then I’ll say “now do you think you know more or less than a six year old” or “do you think you know as much as someone in high school or as much as your parents?” Usually the student will say yes or no and then I tell them that some items will be easy because it’s for someone younger than them and that some items will be harder because it’s for someone older than them.