Test Prep a Great Way to Lower Test Scores
October 21, 2011 — pwceducationreformIf you want to practically guarantee lower test scores on state mandated tests or college entrance exams, the single best thing you can do is spend weeks ignoring content and studying old test questions. There are legions of studies dating back more than a decade which demonstrate how ineffective studying old test questions is at improving student performance on standardized tests, so it’s not like our schools aren’t aware that what they’re doing is ineffective. Which is rather odd as the primary test prep strategy employed in PWCS is studying old exam questions and test taking strategies rather than reviewing content.
We’ve all gotten the letters sometimes as much as 6 weeks before the test date, “We will begin preparing for the SOL exams next week. Please have your son / daughter bring a 2 in three ring binder to class for keep his / her study materials”. The first year my children took state exams I rushed out to buy a binder with images my child enjoyed so that he won’t be intimidated by preparing for these high stakes tests. One of my children had a Poke-Mon binder while
