De-Stress the Test

by Martha Kaufeldt (Solution Tree Press, 2022)

Testing and the Student Mind

De-Stress the Test explores how classroom teachers can respond to a culture of high-stakes testing, situating the stressful testing experience within modern education debates and the student's psychological experience. Part 2, Stress Prevention and Management Strategies, categorizes practical steps that teachers can take to minimize the negative impacts of testing. Students who are academically prepared and physically and emotionally comfortable tend to withstand testing stress better. Another line of strategies prepares students for the discomfort of testing by teaching growth mindset ("I don't know the answer yet"), grit, and the value of mistakes. By contrast, the author describes common, detrimental mindsets as stuck-down ("I never get it right") or stuck-up ("I don't even need to study").

Preparing Students to Succeed

Part 3, Ways to Prepare Students for High-Stakes Tests, focuses on curriculum and pedagogy. Formative assessments with rapid feedback are emphasized throughout this part of the book, and the author offers a GPS analogy: feedback should tell students where they are going, where they are now, and how to close the gap. Since tests contain specialized vocabulary such as "explain your reasoning" or "cite evidence," this terminology needs to be taught explicitly, which is especially important in a multicultural and multilingual classroom.

Illuminating the Path

While some students at Foothill are well-versed in academic conventions, others are making their first foray into formal mathematics, and illuminating their path is an important job of the instructor. The book's strategies, from teaching test vocabulary to giving GPS-style feedback, are practical ways to do that, so that a test measures what students know rather than how familiar they are with testing.

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