Upping Student Test Scores

This paper discusses approaches to raising student test scores. At present, 49 of 50 states mandate tests for students in selected grades, and each school district is under pressure to have students score at a higher level than they did before. Teaching students to do better on tests is a frequent approach. It has some advantages, but also has the disadvantages of stressing drill on subject matter over higher levels of cognition and emphasizing some disciplines at the expense of others. Dedicating some class sessions to preparing students for multiple choice tests presents the same problems. Providing time before and after school to help students make up deficiencies in learning can increase achievement test results, but the costs to systems and students may be high. Summer sessions present similar advantages and disadvantages. Promoting parent participation in their children's schooling is another approach to increasing test scores that can have several advantages. Smaller class size is an approach that has many advantages, as is the provision of inservice education to teachers to help student achieve. The limitations of state mandated testing persist in spite of all these approaches, in that such tests center on how a student is doing on only one occasion, ignoring daily and sequential achievement. (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document