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Testing is a central fact of current school life. At A Plus Educational Supply, a rising kindergartner came in to visit this summer. He was excited about going to school, and the workers there were happy to share in his excitement.
"Be a good student!" they encouraged him.
"I will," said the boy confidently. "I'll bring you my scores!"
It was just another indication of how test-focused our schools have become. Four year olds think of test scores along with school buses and learning to read
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How can you present testing to young students in a positive way? It isn't always easy. A new picture book by Michael Ward can help.
Pass That Test, Don't Eat It is the story of "wise, well-educated goats" who decide that since every kid is important, they need a plan to make sure that every kid does well in school. Their plan is to give a test to each kid. "The results of this test will help teachers know who is learning and who is not," say the clipboard-wielding goats in their meeting. "Right away, teachers began preparing students to do their very best in school and on the test."
Now, you may be having a bit of trouble swallowing this. We are not all feeling that positive about the emphasis on testing in our schools nowadays. Nonetheless, our students are going to have to spend a large proportion of their class time preparing for and taking tests, and this book can help us give the kids a sense of purpose in the process, regardless of our own feelings about it.
Ward's background in the testing industry has allowed him to do this positive presentation sincerely and well. He even provides a chant (the goats use it for jumping rope, which is an excellent idea): "Do your best. Pass that test."
The book goes on to review the importance of getting a good night's sleep, eating breakfast ("so you will not want to eat your test later"), and so on. Test-taking strategies are presented in the course of the story. Then -- and I really like this part -- the process of gathering, scoring, and reporting on the tests is shown. Kids are encouraged to "share your score report with those who love and care about you."
April McLean's soft pictures show goats doing chemistry experiments, using carrots for manipulatives, and suddenly realizing how important it is to focus on the test (the expressions for that page are marvelous), as well as working on their tests and playing afterwards with a sense of a job well done.
It's pretty much the perfect way to introduce the idea of testing to your K-2 students.
The books are available at Pages of Parenting, either in the physical bookstore in Fayetteville, Arkansas, or at their online store.
Visit Barber Valley Books to read an excerpt of the book and download Ward's free teacher guide with printable PDF files of reproducibles on predicting, making a mental image, and drawing inferences.
Ward plans more books in the series. In the meantime, a couple of other picture books on the subject that I like:
Testing Miss Malarky, by Judy Finchler
Score One for the Sloths, by Helen Lester
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