To cope with testing demands: Understanding the Testing Genre: Preparing Students for High-Quality Performance To cope with testing demands: Analyze the genuine underlying skills that students need in order to be able to perform well on comprehensive proficiency test. Create an ongoing curriculum to help students develop the genuine reading and writing abilities that will provide a foundation for good test performance. Analyze the ways of reading, writing, and displaying knowledge that test require. Familiarize students with the ways to display knowledge and skills that will be expected of them in test performance. ***Without the first two steps, the others are not effective. Being a competent reader and writer is basic to performing well on test*** Source: Fountas, I.C. and Pinnell, G. S., 2001 Guiding Readers and Writers Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy.

Tests as a Genre Tests tend to follow patterns. You can teach students to read and respond to the genre of test. Familiarize students with the test genre to help them understand the demands of a test (e.g. Locate information in or beyond the texts, Understand what test questions require, process a variety of tests effectively so they learn the characteristics and demands of different texts). When the text material is beyond a student’s reading ability you can’t teach them “techniques” for answering questions. Practice walk students through the process of test taking (e.g. highlight important details, make sure students understand what the question is asking, or students learning how to organize their responses before writing the final text). Source: Fountas, I.C. and Pinnell, G. S., 2001 Guiding Readers and Writers Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy.

Standards-Based Testing Standards-based test are meant to determine whether students can meet standards based on skills required to survive and succeed in society. Benchmark Tests tell us whether students are learning at satisfactory rates and whether they need intervention, extra instruction, or differentiated instruction. Developing a student’s reading and writing is the key to student performance. Source: Fountas, I.C. and Pinnell, G. S., 2001 Guiding Readers and Writers Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy.

Reading in the Classroom and Reading Required by Tests Reading workshop offers challenging and productive reading experiences which help students develop the strategies they will need to know to do well on tests. Guide students to specific information (e.g. use statements like give me an example or using examples from the text, explain…). Source: Fountas, I.C. and Pinnell, G. S., 2001 Guiding Readers and Writers Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy.

Help Students Construct Meaning Teach students to summarize the text. Teach students to use graphic aids and illustrations (maps, pie charts, time lines, etc.) Teach students to retell the text in writing. Source: Fountas, I.C. and Pinnell, G. S., 2001 Guiding Readers and Writers Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy.

General Guidelines for Working Across the Language/Literacy Framework Engage students in reading, enjoying, and studying a wide range of genres. Emphasize poetry – Students read and write poetry weekly. Match books to readers. See that students do a lot of reading and writing. Prepare students for the language and expectations of the test. Source: Fountas, I.C. and Pinnell, G. S., 2001 Guiding Readers and Writers Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy.

Professional Development Suggestions Work with colleagues to conduct a thorough analysis of the test your students wiil be required to take. Collect sample test of various kinds from several grade levels. Collaborate with different grade level teachers to to analyze the knowledge base and processes that were required to take these sample tests. Keep a running list on chart paper of the kinds of questions you explore and what is required of readers. Compare the list of test-taking skills with your own language/literacy curriculum. Use the list to plan minilessons and practice sessions that are specifically designed to help students understand the genre of test taking. Reorganize the list and copy it over so that the key ideas stand out clearly. Source: Fountas, I.C. and Pinnell, G. S., 2001 Guiding Readers and Writers Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy.