1. Appropriate and Inappropriate Test-Prep Practices

2. Professional Ethics as a Guideline
“No test preparation practice should violate the ethical norms of the education profession”
This means no lying, cheating, stealing, etc,
Also means acting in loco parentis, in place of the parent, to act with morally, ethical behavior.

3. Educational Defensibility guideline
“No test-preparation practice should increase students’ test scores without simultaneously increasing students’ mastery of the assessment domain tested”
This means that teachers should not spend ample instructional time teaching “tricks” or “skills” that are only applicable to the test, and not generalizable to other areas

4. Five test- preparation practices
1. Previous-form preparation
2. Current-form preparation
3. Generalized test-taking preparation
4. Same-format preparation
5. Varied-format preparation

5. Applying test-prep options to the Evaluative Criteria
Does it adhere to Professional Ethics?
Does it adhere to Educational Defensibility?
Previous-form No
Current-form
Generalized
Yes
Same format
Varied format

6. “Teaching to the Test,” according to Popham
Don’t say, “teaching to the test’s items”
Instead say, “teaching to the content represented by the test”
See illustration on pg 313.

7. Implications for Teachers
Reflect if your testing preparation practices coincide with one of the five practices.
More important than your approaches, is your adherence to the two evaluative guidelines.