Written By Joseph Deem Ed.D.
All students face challenges related to test specific processes. These challenges include the ability to employ test specific strategies that allow them to accurately demonstrate their mastery of grade level academic content.
Numerous studies indicate that low-income students encounter additional obstacles to learning that their more affluent counterparts do not experience. Additionally, current research indicates that the socio-economic divide has not disappeared. It is also apparent that the inequalities inherent in standardized testing tend to favor students from higher socio-economic levels. Therefore, it is undebatable that we must ethically prepare all students for high stakes assessments.
There are many learning and instructional challenges embedded in the need for ethical test preparation. For example, there are essential differences between ethical test preparation and merely practicing for a specific test. These differences concern the ethical appropriateness of test preparation activities.
The following are some key differences between the two concepts:
- Ethical test preparation includes research-based instructional strategies that ensure all students will master a domain’s content skills and knowledge.
- Ethical test preparation ensures that all students will master test specific processes to a degree that allows them to accurately demonstrate their academic achievement.
- Ethical test preparation includes direct instruction of effective test taking strategies.
- Test practice minimizes or inhibits instruction of appropriate grade level curriculum.
- Test practice provides students with previous or alternate forms of a test.
- Test practice gives students test-taking exercises such as responding to multiple-choice questions by learning to fill in bubbles on dummy answer sheets.
According to James Popham, former American Educational Research Association President and Emeritus Professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education, proper (ethical) test preparation must adhere to two specific test preparation standards.
- Effective educational practices must not be violated by inappropriate test practice activities.
- Preparation for a test should help students master test specific processes that will show real gains in each assessed domain.
Standards Plus programs teach the content and the learning behaviors that all students need to know and be able to do to master their grade-level standards. This is an irrefutable learning goal for all students, especially for at-risk students. Also, it should be evident that many students who are not familiar with the test-specific tasks inherent in high stakes assessments, will most likely perform less well regardless of their content mastery.
At Standards Plus, we believe that direct instruction of test taking processes and strategies is an obvious element of ethical test preparation. This element ensures that all students receive direct instruction of test-specific tasks that they must perform during high-stakes testing. These are tasks that they do not routinely encounter in their regular curricula. It may be as simple as learning to “drag and drop” text or as complicated as deconstructing a writing prompt, writing to a rubric, or using an online protractor. It is essential that students learn to perform these tasks before testing. Standards Plus materials embed these testing routines and directly instruct students how to address the unique requirements integral to testing situations while teaching important grade level content.
Standards Plus adheres to Popham’s standards for ethical test preparation because the focus of all Standards Plus programs is to improve student learning and to master grade-level standards. The consequential outcome is that students perform at higher levels on high-stakes assessments. Furthermore, Standards Plus materials are proven to diminish the obstacles inherent in the socio-economic divide. We believe that Standards Plus Programs will alleviate learning disparities as well as prepare students for high-stakes assessments.