DOCUMENT RESUME ED 302 551 TM 012 452 AUTHOR TITLE ... · ED 302 551 TM 012 452 AUTHOR Bates, Percy; And OtherF TITLE Teaching Children To Be Test Wise. INSTITUTION Michigan Univ.,

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 302 551 TM 012 452

AUTHOR Bates, Percy; And OtherFTITLE Teaching Children To Be Test Wise.INSTITUTION Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor. School of Education.SPONS AGENCY Department of Education, Washington, DC.PUB DATE 88NOTE 25p.

PUB TYPE Collected Works - Serials (022) -- Guides -Non- Classroom Use (055)

JOURNAL CIT Breakthrough; v15 n1 Sum 1988

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Board of Education Policy; *Educational

Opportunities; Educational Policy; ElementarySecondary Education; *Equal Education; *MinorityGroups; Newsletters; Problem Solving; StateDepartments of Education; *Test Coaching; TestingProblems; Test Wiseness

IDENTIFIERS *Programs for Educational Opportunity

ABSTRACT

Test-wiseness is discussed in the newsletter ofPrograms for Educational Opportunity (PEO), a combined race, gender,and national origin desegregation assistance center providingtechnic'al information to eligible public schools in Illinois,Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. PEO is based onthe belief that specific teaching of test taking skills to helpstudents become more test wise will expand the educationalopportunities of all students. After an introduction by Percy Bates,the following papers are provided: (1) "Tribute to Dr. Charles D.Moody, Sr" (Bob Croninger); (2) "An Interview with Irving P. McPhail"(Elizabeth M. Mimms); (3) "What Some States and Districts Are Doing"(Elizabeth M. Mimms); (4) "Test-Wiseness Training: One District'sExperience" (Iva A. Smith); (5) "Who Needs To Be Test Wise ?" (BobCroninger); and (6) "A Test-Wiseness Primer" (D. Groves Dugger). Tenservices in the area of testing are listed. (SLD)

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Programs for Educational Opportunity NewsletterTHE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SCHOOL OF EDUCATIONmew,

Volume XV, Number 1, Summer 1988

Teaching Children to be Test WiseFrom the Deskof the Director

Percy Bates

A s the new director of thePrograms for Educational

Opportunity (PEO), it is my privilegeto continue the work of my ;4...nd andcolleague, Chuck Moody. I share hiscommitment to the possibility andncessity of change, for individuals, forschools, and for our social institutions.

In his 17 years as director, Dr.Moody helped to improve the futureof thousands of school children whoselife choices might otherwise have beenmore limited because of their race,gender, or national origin. BobCroninger's eloquent tribute on thenext page expresses the mixture ofpride and sadness we all felt when Dr.Moody left PEO and the School ofEducation to become The Universityof Michigan's first vice provost forminority affairs.

In the fall 1983 issue of Break-through Dr. Moody wrote that schooldistricts were asking PEO for techni-cal assistance to help reduce the dis-crepancy between black and whiteachievement on standardized tests.Among several ways that PEO hassuggested for addressing this proolemis specific teaching of test-taking skills

Photo by Janet L Scales

to help students become more "testwise." Based on our experience, webelieve that if school districts offersuch test-wiseness training, it willexpand the educational opportunitiesof all students, no matter what theirrace, gr ter, or national origin.

As yet u...t-wiseness curriculummaterials are not widely used in urbanschool systems. Predominantly whitehigh schools are more likely to offertheir students special courses on howto take tests, and white parents aremore likely to invest in privatecoaching to improve their children'scollege admission test scores.' Ifspecial courses and coaching do raisetest scores, then all students shouldhave access to them.

(Continued on page 2)

A-

Inside this issue ...Tribute to Dr. Moody

Bob Croninger, 3Dr. McPhail & Test Wiseness

Elizabeth Mimms, 4State & District Efforts

Elizabeth Mimms, 10One District's Experience

Iva A. Smith, 13Who Needs to be Test Wise?

Bob Croninger, 15A Test-Wiseness Primer

D. Groves nigger, 18Additional References

Elizabeth Mimms, 22Services in Testing

Aurora Ramirez-Krodel, 23

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

Dr. Percy Bates, Director,Programs for

Educational Opportunity

Percy Bates, Ph.D., has been direc-tor of the Programs for EducationalOpportunity since 1987. A psycholo-gist and special educator, he is aprofessor of education in the Univer-sity of Michigan School of Educationwhere he has been a faculty membersince 1965. He also heads theSchool's Office of Minority StudentAffairs and chairs the Higher Educa-tion Commission of the NationalAssociation of Black School Educators.

Prof. Bates has served the School ofEducation as chairperson of theSpecial Education Program and of theDiv: %ion for Curriculum, Teaching,arra ?sychological Studies and asassistant dean. He has also had a tourof duty as HEW assistant undersecre-tary for special education in Washing-ton, D.C.

From the Director

(Continued from page 1)

PEO favors test-wiseness trainingand believes that schools can helpstudents improve their test- takingskills. That is the focus of this issueof Breakthrough.

What is test wiseness and can ithelp minority students improve theirtest performance? For answers tothese questions, Elizabeth Mimms, thethe editor of this issue, interviewedIrving P. McPhail, a much sought afterconsultant in the area of test wiseness.Dr. McPhail believes that not only thetest scores but also the self-concept ofminority youngsters can be improved.His optimism and excitement arecontagious.

How wide spread are test-wisenessprograms? Dr. Mimms surveyed stateoffices and local districts in the GreatLakes area and found that about halfwere making systematic efforts toimplement test-wiseness programs,but that about half were not.

How well do test-wiseness pro-grams work? Iva Smith describesone school district's experience withDr. McPhail's program and its largelypositive results.

Who should be test wise? BobCroninger's analysis argues persua-sively that not only students but alsoparents, teachers, guidance counsel-ors, principals, district level adminis-trators, and professional test-makers

themselves need to be test wise. Theseadults should be concerned that weassess accurately, constructively, andfairly the abilities of children and beaware of the potential misuse and abuseof testing.

What do researchers say about test-wiseness training? D. Groves Duggerreports that test-wiseness trainingallows students to cope with increasedtesting. Furthermore, it helps poorlyperforming students by bringing themup to speed.

Finally, where can parents andeducators get help? Besides thereferences at the end of each article,Dr. Mimms provides some additionalresources, and Ms. Aurora Ramirez -Krodel, PEO librarian, provides an an-notated list of organizations offeringservices in the field of testing.

There are other approaches toimproving student performance onstandardized tests: better curriculumand instruction and challenging thetest-makers to eliminate bias from theirinstruments, to name just two veryimportant approaches. Test-wisenesstrai .:ng seems to work, however, andso with Irving McPhail we at PEO say,"It's time to get on with it"

Reference

1. William F. Brazziel, "ImprovingSAT Scores: Pros, Cons, Methods,"Journal of Negro Education 57 (1988):91.

The University of Michigan, as an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer, complies with applicable federal and state lawsprohibiting discrimination, including Tide DC of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It isthe policy of The University of Michigan that no person, on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, age, maritalstatus, handicap, or Vietnam-era veteran status, shall be discriminated against in employment, educational programs and activities, oradmissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the University's Director of Affirmative Action, Title IX and Section 504 Compli-ance, 2012 Fleming Administration Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1340. (313) 763-0235.

The Regents of the University: Dean Baker, Paul W. Brown, Neal D. Nielsen, Philip H. Power, Thomas A. Roach, Veronica Latta Smith,Nellie M. Varner, James L. Waters, James J. Duderstadt (ex officio)

2 Breakthrough:3

Summer 1988

Tribute toDr. Charles D. Moody, Sr.

Bob Croninger speaking for PEO staff

I have been asked by Dr.Moody's staff to present himwith a plaque. It is with joy andsorrow that I do so, feelings Iknow that my colleagues sharewith me.

We are pleased by Dr.Moody's recent appointment,and we are proud to help honorhim here today. For seventeenyears he has served as thedirector of the Program for Edu-cational Opportunity and theCenter for Sex Equity inSchools, programs with theprimary purpose of furtheringequity in the public schools ofthis country.

During that time he has ledwith quiet dignity, integrity anda sincere commitment to theaspiration, and educationaldreams of children. We havebeen witnesses to his leader-ship, to his commitment toequity and excellence, and itseems only right that he behonored for it at this time.

May 28, 1987

Dr. Charles D. Moody, Sr.,Vice Provost for Minority Affairs,

The University of Michigan

But we have also beenfriends, and as a friend we willdearly miss him. Over the yearswe have shared successes anddisappointments. We havecelebrated together when ourefforts have helped children andteachers reach goals theythought unobtainable, and wehave consoled each other whenour efforts were not enough,

when progress came too slowlyor not at all for some.

It is with joy and sorrow,therefore, that I make thispresentation. Before yourfamily, friends, fellow educa-tors and University colleagues,we gratefully recognize yourleadership and friendship. Wethank you for the memories youhave provided us, and we hopethat this plaque will be a re-minder to you and a notice toothers of the high esteem inwhich you are held by us. Itreads . . .

"In grateful recognition of yourfriendship and commitment toequity and excellence in publiceducation. From your staff andthe more than 170:000 adminis-trators, teachers, students andparents in Illinois, Indiana,Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio andWisconsin whom 3 ou haveinspired by your leadership.Dr. Charles D. Moody, Sr.,Director, 1970-1987."

Summer 1988 Breakthrough 3

An interview with Irving P. McPhail by Elizabeth M. Mimms

Irving McPhail is currentlypresident of LeMoyne-Owen College,Memphis, Tennessee. His previouspositions include vice president anddean of academic affairs at DelawareState C;ilege, chief operating officerof Bmtimore City Public Schools, andspecial assistant to the director for de-velopment and education and re-search scientist for the Center forMetropolitan Planning and Researchat Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. McPhail holds a bachelor'sdegree in sociology from CornellUniversity, a master' s degree inreading from Harvard GraduateSchool of Education, and a doctoratein reading and language arts from theUniversity of Pennsylvania. He hasbeen an active consultant to schooldistricts on the principles of testwiseness. Some of his publications ontest wiseness and training for :esttaking are listed in the references atthe end of this interview .

Elizabeth Mimms, a field servicesspecialist with the Programs forEducational Opportunity since 1980,interviewed Dr. McPhail by tele-phone on January 14, 1988.

Mimms: Dr. McPhail, what led toyour initial interest in training studentsin test-taking skills?

McPhail: My initial interest datesback to my days as a doctoral studentat the University of Pennsylvania. Iwent to the University of Pennsylva-nia in 1973 to pursue a doctorate in

reading and language arts, with minorsin measurement, evaluation and tech-niques of experimental research andsocio- and psycho-linguistics.

The first course that I took in testsand measurement was taught by Dr.James Diamond. Unbeknownst to me,James Diamond was and is one of thepremier researchers in the area of testwiseness. Of course, I did not know thiscoming into his graduate course, andcertainly I was not yet familiar with theliterature on test wiseness.

One day in a lecture about itemanalysis, Jim mentioned that there was abody of literature and some veryinteresting research that spoke to theissue of test wiseness, namely that therewas an art and science of test taking.Once mastered, these principles couldimprove student performance onstandardized tests. He discussed this inthe context of error variance, which wasone of the things we were talking aboutin the general dis "ussion of itemanalysis.

I became somewhat intrigued bywhat was really a passing comment. Jimdidn't even give a lecture on testwiseness; he just happened to mention itin passing. I remember very distinctly atthe end of the lecture that I went up tohim and said, "You know, I'm kind ofinterested in the test-wiseness constructthat you talked about. Could yousuggest some literature?" He said,"Sure, come see me tomorrow."

When I stopped by his office, hegave me about a pound of articles, someof them his work and others the classic

work by Millman and his associates. Iread that stuff and became hooked. Imean, I became absolutely fascinated.For years I had wondered why it wasthat Black students did not do as wellon standardized tests as did whitestudents. I knew that it had nothing todo with intelligence, and I knew that insome cases it had nothing to do withaccess to quality education, becauseeven in settings where Blacks andwhites at the top of the class weregoing to school together, there seemedto be this variance. I got excited aboutthis topic because I became committedto the view that the problem that besetmany Black students was an absence ofthis thing that I had just discoveredcalled test wiseness.

From that point on, I set about thetask of mastering the knowledge andresearch in this area, and ultimately Iwent on to do my doctoral dissertationin the area of test w1:.?ness.'.2 JimDiamond served as a member of mycommittee. It was that doctoraldissertation that led to the publicationof my Test-Wiseness Curriculum.' Ofcourse, the rest is history.

Mimms: Do you differentiatebetween test wiseness and'test-takingskills? I want to use the terms inter-changeably, but I didn't know if youconsidered them the same.

McPhail: Most people use theterms interchangeably. However, testwiseness is the technically appropriateterm. Test wiseness is the term coined

4 Breakthrough Summer 1988

5

by Jason Millman in his original 1965research report published in Educa-tional and PsychologicalMeasurement,' but most people douse these terms interchangeably. Infact, there are a number of termstestwiseness, test awareness, test-takingskills, test sophistication. As long asall of those terms are defined asMillman set down in his classicdefinition of test wiseness, thenthere's no problem with using theterms interchangeably.

Mimms: What are the educationaladvantagesimmediate and longtermof teaching test wiseness?

McPhail: The immediate advan-tages are that young people will beable to learn some strategies andtechniques that will help themimprove their test scores. This iscritically important for Black studentsbecause college admissions exams,employment exams, exams forpromotionthe whole range of testingin American societyhas victimizedBlack students. I'm not talking aboutBlack students who can't read andwrite; I'm talking about good Blackstudents.

Objective, multiple-choice kinds oftests are cognitively inappropriateactivities for Black students. I'mbasing that statement on BarbaraShade's woe on African-Americancognitive style.s." I argue that theformat and the structure of a multiple-choice test operates against thepreferences for cognition that BarbaraShade and others have written aboutof late. Our Black students arevictimized to a greater degree than anyother students by these tests, so theimmediate impact and the immediategain is of course that the students willlearn some things that will help themimprove their performance. Thatmeans they ought to be able :o go onand to do many of the things that theywant to do more effectively as a result

of having succeeded on the test.In terms of long term benefits

there's no question that the teaching oftest wiseness has some payoffs interms of critical Limiting and criticalproblem-solving ability. In myresearch I've had teachers who havewritten to me and said that not onlydid their students improve their test-taking skills, but that their problem-solving abilities have also improved.

Dr. Irving P. McPhail

That's because taking a test is aproblem-solving kind of activity.Learning the principles of test wise-ness and learning how to apply them isa problem-solving style. I think thatthere is no question that there aresome long term benefits there.

I think there are also some shortand long term benefits in terms ofstudent self-concept. Black studentsfeel better about themselves and betterabout their abilities to succeed as aresult. As a student once said to me inmy first experiment twelve years agoin Philadelphia, "I finally learned howto beat the man at his own game." Ithink that there is some very importantself-empowerment, if you will, that isa residual benefit of all of this that isvery, very important.

Mimms: Would you pleasecomment on arguments you haveheard for and against teaching test-taking skills?

McPhail: Well, the biggestargument that you get is that it'ssomehow cheating, that somehowwe're giving through the teaching oftest wiseness some kind of advantagethat other students don't have. I thinkthat's a rather hilarious argument, butthat's the one that I hear most. I thinkthat it's an insult to the student, and Ithink that we are harming studentswhen we don't prepare them for testtaking, particularly Black students andother minority students who arevictimized, literally victimized, by thestandardized testing industry inAmerica. And so I think that for thosepeople who understand what testwiseness is, that ceases to be a validargument.

There are some who confuse testwiseness with teaching correctanswers to the test before the test isgiven. That of course is not testwiseness. Test wiseness is . -mlistic

psychotheffic construct that is basedon an outline of six principles. Oncepeople understand what test wisenessisnot what they might fancy it to be,but what it is scientificallythen Ithink they see that it is a skill akin tousing the card catalog in the library orknowing how to use the SQ3R(Survey, Question, Read, Recite,Review) system in reading a textbookchapter. In other words, it is a studyskill, and as such it does not involveany cheating at all.

Now, another criticism I've heardis that somehow teaching students tobe test wise will invalidate the resultsof the test. Also I disagree with thatargument. The distinguished Dr.Robert Ebel,' who along with Millmanis one of the giants in the area oftesting and measurement, argued backin the 1960s that students who are lowin test wiseness are :pore of a problem


6

to the validity and reliability of a testthan those students who are high intest wiseness. The reason for that isyou don't know what that score meanswith a Black student. You don't knowwhether that score is an accurateindication of what that student knowsor if that score is basically a measure-ment of the frustration that the studenthas had with the format of that testand the test-taking situation. Byequipping the student with therequisite degree of test wiseness, youopen up a greater possibility that thestudent's performance is going to giveyou a more accurate reading of whatthat student actually knows.

Mimms: What do you consider tobe essential components of a compre-hensive or ideal test-wiseness pro-gram?

McPhail: I wrote about that in oneof my articles and you need to reallycheck back, but let me see if I canrecapture this. I laid it out in aboutfive or six components'

The first component dealt with thesocio-political implications of testingBlack Americans. That's the begin-ning of the program. I talked aboutwhat tests mean and how tests arebeing used to victimize the progress ofBlack Americans. Then in the secondcomponent I moved into a detailedanalysis of Millman's outline and histest-wiseness principles. Then in thethird component I discussed theapplied principles of test wiseness.Since I'm a reading specialist, Iapplied the principles of test wisenessto verbal achievemert and aptitudetests. Then I explained a test-wisenesstechnique I've developed for standard-ized reading comprehension passages,analogies, etc. In the fourth compo-nent I instructed or reviewed thecontent to be measured by the test.For example, if the test is going tomeasure algebra, you need to go backand review the basic algebraic rules

and equations. If the test is going tobe a measure of vocabulary, you needto go back and do some basic vocabu-lary review. And then the fifthcomponent involves practice undersimulated conditions: practice on test-like items under s:.mulmed timeconditions and other conditions.

Mimms: Please describe thecurriculum and instructional materialsor programs you think would be mosteffective for teaching tes.-takingskills.

McPhail: There is a lot on themarket now. My own Test-WisenessCurriculum is perhaps the truestmaterial on the market to the design,the construct, of test wiseness itself. Itteaches the principles that are inherentin Millman's outline of test wiseness,provides problems for practice, andevaluates test wiseness by usingreading comprehension tests.

There are also other materials onthe market that basically provide drilland practice. Probably the best drilland practice material on the market isthe Scoring High material by RandomHouse,'" but there's some other goodmaterial. For example, the NationalAssociation of Secondary SchoolPrincipals has an SAT preparationpackage." They also have a verbalworkbook, a math wo-kbook, anddiskettes that are very, very good interms of drill and practice and also interms of review of the contentinformation. There are a couple ofother companies that have goodmaterial out.

But again, I think that it's neces-sary to teach test wiseness first, to usethe problems for practice, to reinforcethose principles of test wiseness, andthen to use them for purposes ofsimulation. One of my concerns aboutsome of the efforts to teach theprinciples of test wiseness is thatpeople are not really teachingMillman's outline of test-wiseness

principles and I think that's problem-atic.

Minims: Where have suchcurriculum, materials or programsbeen used a: iar as you know, andwhat have bi..en the results?

McPhail: They've bee 'used allover the country and the resu...s havebeen very, very goud. I first came outwith my workbook in 1978, and Ihave sold several thousand copiesover the last ten years.

As I travel around the countryspeaking to teachers and educators, Ifind that everybody knows aboutScoring High. That Random Housematerial is in lots of schools aroundthe country. I wouldn't want toventure a number, but I would say thatthousands of school districts acrossthe country have awakened to the needto teach the principles of test wiseness.The results obviously are very goodbecause I keep getting invited to domy workshops. Everywhere I gopeople who find out about this getexcited about it and do something withit and the results are good.

Mimms: Great! What should thedistrict goals be for such training, andhow should such goal attainment beevaluated?

McPhail: I think the district goalshould be to make sure that everystudent is exposed to the principles oftest wiseness beginning with pre-school. I think the place to start is inthe pre-kindergarten and to continueto teach the principles all the way upto twelfth grade. I think the evalu-ation of it is very simple: Do thescores go up? That's the bottom line.Do you see an increase in scores, andalso do you see some of the residuals?Do you see students as better problemsolvers, and do they feel better aboutthemselves, about their ability toperform well?


"Do the scores goup? That's thebottom line."

Mimms: Good. What should bethe responsibility of each affectedgroup in assuring the success of such aprogramgroups such as students,Parents, teachers?

McPhail: The students' responsi-bility is to study hard, apply them-selves, master the strategies, andapply them. The parents' responsibil-ity should be to make sure that theygain access for their children to thiskind of training, to make sure thatonce they find a good program thatthey make their children stick to it,and to provide the support at home.

For example, I work with theNAACP to set up testing centers forthe SAT. I just met with them downin Norfolk, Virginia. We're going todo the same thing for the NTF.Parents had to sign a contract whichbasically said, "We prom;.ae to makesure that our students study X numberof hours to master this material andthat they will come to every session."In other words, the parents' responsi-bility is to make sure that the kids areaccountable to the program, and thatthe program is accountable to the kids.

As far as teachers and schooldistricts are concerned, the bottom lineis that they should provide this kind ofinstruction, particularly in Blackschool districts. They should beproviding this kind of instruction sothat Black kids can have the samebenefits as the suburban kids do interms of knowing how to take tests.

Mimms: All right. What aboutbuilding administrators, the principalfor instance.

McPhail: Well, the principal is theeducational leader and manager of theschool, and that includes leadershipfor the curriculum. I think theprincipal should make sure that theprinciples of test wiseness are wellintegrated into the curriculum. At theelementary level I would like to seethe principles taught by every class-room teacher. At the junior high levelI would like to see these principlestaught by whoever is the appropriateteacherthe reading teacher orEnglish teacher. Then I'd like to seethe content areas focus on applied testwiseness, but I still would like to seethe English teacher or the readingteacher focus on didactic instruction inthe principles of test wiseness.

At the secondary level I would liketo see courses called "Preparation forthe SAT" and "Preparation for theACT" and "Preparation for the PSAT"offered from the seventh grade on.Young people would be able to cometo a class that is part of their normalacademic schedule and get specificcoaching and instruction for theCollege Boards test. Then they wouldhave the ability to do better on theACT and SAT which will have adefinite impact on where they can goto school or whether or not they'll geta scholarship.

Mimms: What do you think aboutthe role of district administratorsresponsible for staff development, ortesting and evaluation, or counselorsand psychologists, or any of thosepeople?

McPhail: I think all of thosepeople are implicated, but I think itsthe educators who must assure thatthis occurs. I define the educators asthe teachers, the principals, and thecurriculum people.

Mimms: What about the personwho is in charge of testing andevaluation in the district?

McPhail: I think that theycertainly should have an interest inthis. I think they certainly should besupportive of it. They should appreci-ate the importance of test wiseness,perhaps more than anybody else. ButI have to say, in my travels around thecountry that I haven't seen too manyenlightened testing and measurementpeople in school systems. I've seenpeople who tend to be conservativeand who tend really not to be into thismovement to the degree that I wouldthialc that they would be.

Mimms: What is the time framefor implementing test-wisenesstraining? Should it be throughout theschool year or through intensive shortterm training?

McPhail: It should be throughoutthe school year with intensive shortterm periods before a particular testthat a student is preparing for, and Ithink you should start when the childfirst comes to school in pre-kindergar-ten. That's really where it shouldstart, and it should be sequenced allthroughout the child's twelve orthirteen years of public school.

Mimms: What pitfalls are districtsor schools likely to experience whenimplementing a test-wiseness pro-gram, :And how can such pitfalls beavoided?

McPhail: Staff development, Ithink, is the major potential pitfall.People have to know what they'redoing. I've seen a lot of people doingthings in the name of teaching testwiseness as I've traveled around thecountry which make no sense at all.About the worst thing I've seen isordering the Random House material,giving it to kids as homework assign-ments, and saying, "We teach the kidsto be test wise." Nonsense!

I think the biggest pitfall is notputting enough time, energy, and


creativity, and thought into your staffdevelopment program. The teachersreally need to be taught what testwiseness is. They need to be walkedthrough that outline of test-wisenessprinciples. They need to master it,and then they need to work with reallygood curriculum people to come upwith appropriate vehicles in thecurriculum for delivering these ideasto the children and to the students thatthey're working with. I think thatstaff development and curriculuminstructional development are twoareas that have not been approachedvery carefully and can end up beingbig, big pitfalls.

Mimms: What variables areassociated with coachable students?

McPhail: I would say readingability that would be no lower thantwo years below grade level. I wouldsay motivationa high degree ofmotivationand a previous history ofaverage to below-average perform-ance on standzdized tests. Those Ithink would be the most importantvariables.

Other good candidates would beambitious, bright, aggressive studentswho just wish to do better. Testwiseness is really not a remedialtechnique; it's a technique for every-body. There are a lot of kids making1300 on the SAT who want to make1500 to up their chances of gettinginto Harvard for whom test wisenesswould be important also.

Mimms: What are the uniqueneeds of certain subgroups of stu-dents, Blacks, other ethnic minorities,women, and other language groups?

McPhail: Blacks in general willneed a heavy dose of test wiseness,not because Blacks are not as bright aswhites cc because Blacks are educa-tionally disadvantaged, or whateverthe case might be. I hope thoseshibboleths are behind us. It's largely

Photo by Janet L. Scales

because, as I indicated earlier, amultiple-choice, objective kind oftimed standardized test is a cogni-tively inappropriate activity for apossessor of African-Americancognitive style. I'm convinced of it.Because of that, I think that our youngpeople are really behind the eight ballwith a lot of these tests. I think that interms of uniqueness there just needs tobe a lot of attention paid to this.

There's some research that bearsthis out. There's a very good researchreport by Messick'2 who is one of theresearchers with the EducationalTesting Service, believe it or not.Messick did a re-analysis of theFederal Trade Commission data basedon that law suit of several years ago.The Federal Trade Commissioninvestigated coaching schools hopingto determine that they were ripping offthe public n^d not doing things thatresulted in better test performance,only to discover that people likeStanley Kaplan and others really weredoing a good job. In his re-analysis ofthis Federal Trade Commission data,Messick came upon some trulywonderful findings. In two of thecoaching schools that he looked atBlack students benefited more fromthe coaching.

Again, now, just so we're straight

on terminology, coaching is not testwiscness. When I use the termcoaching, I'm talking about a programthat includes test wiseness in combi-nation with some re-teaching, some ofit more sophisticated usually, andmore intensive drill and practice.Good coaching encompasses testwiseness.

What Messick found is that Blackstudents in two of the coachingcenters improved more substantiallythan did white students who were inthe same coaching school. Thissuggests, of course, that the Blackstudents were lower in test wiseness tobegin with, and '. also suggests theefficacy of this kind of training forBlack students.

Mimms: What about ethnicgroups other than Blacks? Have youhad any experience or any thoughtsregarding them and test wiseness?

McPhail: I work with Blacks andPuerto Ricans because those are thefolks that are in New York andPhiladelphia. Those are the so-calledminorities in the inner cities in theEast where I am from. When Iworked with Puerto Rican students, Ifound that basically they have thesame problems as Black students plus


the added problem of languagedifficulty. Depending upon wherethey are in terms of their acquisitionof English, the whole second languageissue can be a very difficult one forthem.

Fortunately most of the Puer.t.Rican students with whom I haveworked have as much languagefacility as any other American becausethey have lived in America all of theirlives and somehow they've been ableto mesh the Spanish and the English.They basically know what's happen-ing in terms of the English language,and so in that regard their needsbecome the same as the needs ofBlack students.

Of course there are certain culturalnuances that are going to come up.There are certain questions on teststhat are purely measures of a particu-lar kind of cultural orientation morethan they are a measure of some kindof discrete: cognitive skill, and socertainly those cultural nuancesbecome doubly difficult for personswho are bringing such a vastlydifferent culture to the testing situ-ation. For the most part, I found thatthe Hispanic students are able tobenefit as much from the test-wisenesstraining as are the Black students.

Mimms: What directions do youthink educators should take in thefuture with regard to test wiseness andtraining in test taking?

McPhail: We need a lot moreresearch. I've not been happy withthe quality of the research that's beendone on the issue of teaching testwiseness to Black students. I'vepublished some good research in thearea to which I've gotten some veryinteresting reactions."" As mycareer has taken off in academic ad-ministration, it's been difficult for meto get out there and collect samplesand develop materials and do all thesegreat research designs and get allthose wonderful "p less than .001"

probability values.I'm kind of disappointed that we

don't have some researchers who arelooking at this issue and really doingsome good research. We need tode,.tlop a stronger research base sothat we have even stronger evidencethat test- wiseness training works. Wealready know it does. We can look atthe kids whom we've been able tohelp, fcr whom it has worked, and wecan look at my first experiment andthe kind of "p" values that I got. Pluswe can look at that report thatBangert-Drowns and his associates atThe University of Michigan wrote thatlisted my study among three or four

"Our children canlearn anything iftaught."

which demonstrated definite benefitsof teaching test wiseness to Blackstudents."

I think we need a lot more research.This is where I'm hoping that PEOand all the organizations like yours aregoing to be able to make a mark. Weneed a lot more experimental studiesin this area. We also probably needsome ethnographic studies, too, tobegin to look at attitude change andthe whole social context of testing forBlacks and Puerto Ricans and otherminorities. As we look to the future,that's what I want to see. I want tosee a much greater investment in basicand applied research in test wisenessas it impacts on Black students.

Mimms: What concludingthoughts would you like to leave withour readers?

McPhail: Black students can learnanything if taught. The teaching ofthe principles of test wiseness toBlack students is a step in the right

direction. There's no reason tobelieve that literally thousands,millions for that matter, of Blacks dopoorly on tests because of poor ability,or deficits, or any of that kind ofnonsense. Our children can learnanything if taught.

It's our responsibility to teach themto be test wise at the same time thatwe're teaching them to read, to use thecomputer, to learn calculus and do allof the other things that we want themto do. And I think that we need to geton with it!

References

1. Irving P. McPhail, "A Psycholin-guistic Approach to Training UrbanHigh School Students in Test-takingStrategies " (Ed.D. diss., Universityof Pennsylvania, 1976). DissertationAbstracts International 1977, 37:5667A. (University Microfilms No.77-4676).

2. Irving P. McPhail, "A Psycholin-guistic Approach to Training UrbanHigh School Students in Test-TakingStrategies." Journal of NegroEducation 47 (1978): 168-76.

3. Irving P. McPhail, Test-WisenessCurriculum. (Randallstown, MD:Kamilah Educational Enterprises,1978). (To order, write Dr. McPhailat Lemoyne-Owen College, 807Walker Avenue, Memphis, TN38126).

4. Jason Millman, Carol H. Bishop,and Robert L. Ebel, "An Analysis ofTest Wiseness." Educational andPsychological Measurements 25(1965): 707-26.

5. Barbara J. Shade, "Afro-AmericanCognitive Style: A Variable in SchoolSuccess?" Review of EducationalResearch, 52 (1982): 219-244.

(continued on page 10)


6. Barbara J. Shade, "CognitiveStrategies as Determinants of SchoolAchievement." Psychology in theSchools 20 (1983): 488-493.

7. Barbara J. Shade, "Is There anAfro-American Cognitive Style?"Journal of Black Psychology 13

(1986): 13-16.

8. Robert L. Ebel, Measuring Educa-tional Achievement. (EnglewoodCliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965).

9. Irving P. McPhail, "Why TeachTest Wiseness?" Journal of Reading25 (1981): 32-38.

10. Scoring High in Reading. Fourvolumes. (New York: RandomHouse, 1978).

11. Improving College AdmissionTest Scores. Math Workbook, 1982;Verbal Workbook, 1983. (Reston,VA: National Association of Secon-dary School Principals/Instructavision,Inc.).

12. Samuel Messick, The Effective-ness of Coaching for the SAT: Reviewand Analysis of Research from theFifties to the Federal Trade Commis-sion. (Princeton, NJ.: EducationalTesting Service, 1980).

13. Irving P. McPhail, "Test Sophisti-cation: An Important Considerationin Judging the Standardized TestPerformance of Black Students."Reading World 18 (1979): 227-235.

14. McPhail (1981), pp. 32-38.

15. Robert L. Bangert-Drowns, JamesA. Kulik, and Chen-Lin C. Kulik,"Effects of Coaching Programs onAchievement Test Performance."Review of Educational Research 53

(1983): 571-585.

10 Breakthrough

WhatSomeStatesandDistricts are DoingElizabeth M. Minims

To find out what states anddistricts in PEO's service region

were doing to teach test-taking skillsto public school students, I conductedan exploratory study during Septem-ber and October 1987. In 38 brieftelephone interviews I first definedtest-taking skills to mean the ability touse time well, to pace oneself, toknow when to guess and when not toguess, to use logical reasoning, andother factors related to test taking thatare independent of the test's content.Then I asked respondents what theiragency was doing to train students intest-taking skills and specificallywhether they had developed any

Elizabeth Mimms,Ph.D., is originallyfrom Indianapolis,Indiana. She has abackground insocial work andadult and continu-ing education. She

is a race, gender, national origin fieldservices specialist for the Programsfor Educational Opportunity and isits liaison to Wisconsin.

training materials for this purpose.

I spoke with administrators andconsultants responsible for studenttesting, evaluation, research, orassessment from six state agencies and32 local districts in PEO's servicearea: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Icontacted five or six districts per statewhich were either in large, urban areasor were suggested by persons Iinterviewed.

Other people I talked to in thecourse of my survey included severalstate EEO (Equal Educational Oppor-tunity) administrators, district levelpersonnel responsible for staff devel-opment, counseling and guidance,and curriculum and instruction, aswell as a principal, two universityprofessors, two superintendents, andtwo county intermediate schooldistrict officials. Respondents weregenerous in sharing information, andin sending articles, booklets, work-shop agendas and other writtenmaterials in response to my telephoneinquiries.

Summer 1988

State AgenciesThe Michigan Department of

Education was the only state educa-tional agency to report launchingsystematic efforts to improve studenttest-taking skills. The, state office thatadministers the Michigan EducationalAssessment Program (MEAP) devel-oped a brochure for district principals,teachers, counselors and ether profes-sional staff to use in improving studenttest-taking skills, entitled A Guide toTest Taking as Easy as 1 - 2 - 3.'

The state department then refinedand broadened the brochure to providetraining for all kinds of tests, includingteacher made tests. Also, plans wereunderway to use the brochure as thebasis for developing a videotape fortraining teachers. The efforts inMichigan were frequently praised byadministrators from the five otherstates.

In Illinois? Indiana, and Ohio,3administrators said that materials fordistricts to use for improving studenttest-taking skills were being planned inconjunction with the development ofstate-wide testing. Administratorsfrom Michigan and Ohio added thattheir state departments of educationincluded training for teaching test-taking skills in their yearly offerings ofin-service workshops for teachers,counselors and other district personnelthroughout the state. Otherwise,systematic efforts to improve studenttest-taking skills were left to thediscretion of local school districts.

Local DistrictsOf the 32 local districts I surveyed,

16 reported making system-wideefforts to teach test-taking skills. Theother 16 indicated that they left suchefforts to the discretion of each school.Administrators for 11 of these 16districts specifically stated that therewas no system-wide effort to trainstudents in test-taking skills in their

districts. One reported that a 1985teacher in-service had indicated a lackof staff interest in training students tobe test wise, and two indicated thatthey, personally, were not in favor ofsuch efforts.

Many districts encouraged teachersto prepare students for standardizedtests by regularly discussing test-takingskills and incorporate separate answersheets and multiple-choice formats inteacher made tests. A number ofinformants also mentioned commer-cially prepared materials. Respondentsfrom 12 of the 32 districts reportedusing such practice materials in theirdistrict. These included commerciallyprepared sample questions supplied bypublishers of specific standardized testsincluding the Iowa Test of Basic Skillsand the California Achievement Test.Scoring High by Random House waslisted by administrators from fivedistricts, and Mini Tests 5 by Educa-tional Solutions of New York City wasreported by two districts.

IllinoisUrbana school district reported a

system-wide program aimed primarilyat the elementary level. Teachersreceived one day of in-service trainingand then took students through tenlessons that simulated test situations,used practice tests and separate answersheets, and stressed time usage, pacing,familiarity with routine, checking one'sown work, following instructions, self-scoring, and discussion of sample tests.The purpose of this training was toreduce test anxiety and develop apositive student attitude.

The program started as a pilot projectat Leal Elementary School, wherematerials and training were developedby the school's instructional staff andby University of Illinois's ProfessorKennedy Hill. 47 Prof. Hill's researchhas shown that students receiving thetest preparation program show signifi-

cant increases in achievement test per-formance as well as reduction in testanxiety compared to control groupclassrooms.' At this time all of theelementary school teachers in theUrbana schools have been trained in theprogram as well as all of the teachers inEvergreen Park, Illinois, SchoolDistrict

A Chicago administrator reportedthat some sub-districts have elaborateprograms and some do not She said astudy was underway to find out howtest preparation materials that instructstudents to read a passage beforeanswering reading comprehensionquestions compares in its effectivenessto materials that direct students to readthe questions before reading thepassage.

"Students . . . showsignificant increasesin achievement testperformance. . ."

MichiganDetroit has developed a K-12 test

taking skills manual entitled TestingTune Up.9 The school-based testingcoordinate. ., and other teachers weretrained in the use of the manual, as arenew teachers. Requests for this manualhave come from districts both insideand outside the United States.

Buena Vista school district nearSaginaw has developed a booklet forelementary students on how to tarptests. At the junior high level BuenaVista has provided a regular 50-minutecourse on test taking in its communica-tion skills sequence. At the high schoollevel, ninth graders take a regular 50-


1 0- A.

minute, one semester class in test-taking skills.

Grand Rapids school districtinitiated its efforts by conducting asystem-wide survey to see what staffthought they needed in order to imparttest-taking skills to students. Thisschool year the district is focusing onraising the awareness of staff regard-ing test-taking skills and student out-comes. One administrator I talked tothere said, 'Test taking is a basicskill."

MinnesotaSt. Paul recently provided Dr. Irving

McPhail's in-service training on test-wiseness curriculum to instructionalstaff from a number of schools thathad participated in the desegregationprocess.'° Teachers then used ':and-outs and other materials Dr. McPhailprovided to infuse test-wisenesstraining into their curriculum. Inaddition, teachers developed testpreparation materials for tests whichhad no practice materials.

OhioCincinnati has published a booklet

on test wiseness that comparescontent-specific and content-free testwiseness. Cleveland Public Schoolsincludes sessions on test-taking skillsin its yearly group guidance sessionsfor secondary students. Toledo PublicSchools developed test-taking skillsmaterials for use with its first duougl,,third grade students.

WisconsinMilwaukee regularly rains students

in test-taking skills, especially at theelementary level. Materials producedby the district and by other sources areperiodically provided to the schools.In addition, the curriculum andinstruction department in that districtbrought in Dr. McPhail for a one timein-service for principals and supervi-sors on infusing test-wiseness traininginto the curriculum.

College Admission Tests

Many districts also providedpreparation for secondary studentsplanning to take college entrance testssuch as the Preliminary ScholasticAptitude Test (PSAT), the ScholasticAptitude Test (SAT), and the Ameri-can College Test (ACT). Administra-tors for five districts reported makingself-paced, self-study computersoftware available, free of charge, tohigh school students preparing forthese exams.

Administrators from four differentsystems described district-dev;lepedtraining sessions for students prepar-ing for college entrance exams. Onedistrict offered a 12-session eveningcourse. Another had a training unit inpreparation for the PSAT in all tenth-grade English classes in the district.Two offered optional Saturdayworkshops in conjunction with theircommunity education department andthe Urban League or NAACP, free orat minimal cost to students.

ConclusionsIt appears that about half of the state

and educational agencies surveyed inour six-state regicn rat makingcomprehensive efforts to promote theteaching of test-taking skills in thelocal schools, and a')out half are not.Because we believe, such efforts willimprove educational opportunities forstudents in this region, we encourageall state and local education agenciesto institute a comprehensive approachto test wiseness with the necessarypolicy guidelines and programs tosupport staff - and student-leveltraining. We agree with our colleague4.1 Grand Rapids that test taking is abasic skill.

References

1. A Guide to Test Taking as Easy as1- 2 - 3 (Lansing, MichiganState Board of Education, MichiganDepartment of Education, no date).

2. Assessing Reading in Illinois(Springfield, IL: Illinois State Boardof Education, Department of SchoolImprovement Servicas, 1987).

3. Study Skills: A Resource Book(Columbus, OH: Ohio Department ofEducation, Division. of Inservic.eEducation, 1986).

4. Scoring High in Reading (NewYork: Random House, 1978)

5. Mini Tests (New York: Educa-tional Solutions, Inc., 1986).

6. Kennedy T. Hill, ClassroomCurriculum Preparing Students forTesting, Grades 1-8 (Urbana, IL:University of Illinois, Motivation,Testing, and Evaluation, :188).

7. Kennedy T. Hill, "DebilitatingMotivation and Testing: A MajorEducational ProblemPossibleSolutions and Policy Applications."In R. Ames & C. Ames (Eds.),Research on Motivation in Education:Student Motivation. (New York:Academic Press, 1984).

8. Kennedy T. Hill dr. Allan Wigfield,"Test Anxiety . tk Major EducationalProblem and What Can Be DoneAbout It," Elementary School Journal85 (1984): 105-126.

9. Testing Tune Up . . . A Guide toPeak Performance (Detroit, MI:Detroit Public Schools, Evaluation andTesting Department, 1986).

10. Irving P. McPhail, Test-WisenessCurriculum (Randallstown, MD:Kamilah Educational Enterprises,1978),


3

Test-Wiseness Training:One District's ExperienceIva A. Smith

911 wo and a half years ago adminis-trators of a large urban school

district requested PEO's assistance inplanning and implementing a test-wiseness program. Irving P. McPhail(interviewed elsewhere in this issue)was the primary consultant for thisintervention.

The district personnel wanted aprogram that would improve studenttest-taking skills in all academic areas,and they wanted classroom teachers tobe able to teach those skills to theirstudents. They decided that theirgreatest need was in the elementarygrades, so a model plan wasdeveloped to implement test-wisenesstraining for teachers from a selectnumber of elementary schools. Eightschools were chosen. Some weremagnet schools and others were state-designated effective schools. Oncesuccessfully implemented, theprogram was to be replicatedthroughout all elementary schools inthe district.

The TrainingThe training consisted of two all-

day workshops, one in the fall and theother in the spring. Each workshopincluded a keynote presentation by the

Iva A. Smith, a race, gender, andnational origin field services specialistfor the Programs for EducationalOpportunity , has represented PEO inseveral public school districts inIllinois, Michigan, and Minnesota.

Summer 1988

consultant followed by a discussion.The principals from the eight schoolsand selected teachers and other staffmembers participated in the training.

In the fall workshop, Dr. McPhailpresented his test-wiseness model todistrict participants and then n.ctseparately wit teams from eachschool building. By the end of theworkshop each building team haddeveloped a written plan for imple-menting test-wiseness training at theirschool. For example, one buildingteam planned to present a half-dayworkshop to the rest of the staff intheir building.

In the spring workshop, partici-pants shared their building plans withone ant' er and reported on the resultsof their efforts. Then each team metseparately with the consultant.Because Dr. McPhail was temporarilyunavailable, he recommended anotherconsultant, who was an advocate ofhis model, to lead this workshop.

After meeting with the consultant,each team developed a building planfor test-viiseness training in thefollowing school year. For example,one team decided to develop addi-tional test-wiseness materials for usein their school. Another team wrotetest wiseness into their school effec-tiveness plan. Each teacher wasrequired to integrate test-wisenesstraining into their classroom curricu-lum and to spend fifteen minutesevery Wednesday teaching test-wiseness skills.

1`Ac

Thc ResultsThe research component of the

district worked closely with participat-ing teachers to measure the impact ofthe test-wiseness program. Thedistrict usually administered theSurvey of Basic Skills by ScienceResearch Associates (SRA) only oncea year, but all eight participatingschools tested their third, fourth, am!fifth or sixth grade students twice thatyear. The first test was given inOctober (prior to the fall test-wisenessworkshop) and the second in May(after the spring test-wiseness work-shop). In this way each school couldcompare fall and spring test scoresand make some judgments about theeffectiveness of the test-wisenessprogram implemented by theirteachers.

In June, each school submitted acomparative report of its fall andspring test scores. Schools whosestaff members participated fully in thetest-wiseness project reported asignificant increase in SRA test scoresin all academic areas and grade levels

it.. . a significant

increase in SRAtest scores in allacademic areas"

Breakthrough 13

tested. Where there was not full staffparticipation, however, this was nt,tthe case. For example, only a fewgains were reported at the primarylevel at one school where manyfaculty were new, first-time teacherswho were not involved in the fall test-wiseness workshop.

One school reported that theimprovement in test scores was moredramatic for Chapter I students (thosein the lower qualtile). Another schoolreported a similar dramatic gain forstudents in its behavior problem class.The principal of a third schoolreported the following improvementsin the national percentile rank of hisstudents' mean scores on the SRA:

FallSpring

Grade 2 Grade 328 3946 63

The principal of a fourth school,whose students had been scoring farbelow the national percentile, reportedthat all students at all grade levels inhis school had made significant gainsin the major components of the springtest. He presented the figures in the

chart below for the national percentilerank of the mean scores of the studentsat his school.

This same principal reported highstudent interest in the summer activitypackets that his staff had prepared forthe students to help them retain andstrengthen the test-wiseness skills theyhad learned: over 200 students hadsaid they would participate in thesummer test-wiseness program.

RecommendationsAlthough the district judged the

first year of the test-wiseness trainingprogram to be a success, it recom-mended to PEO and Dr. McPhail thatany continuation of the programshould:

1. Have additional workshops andconsultations by Dr. McPhail, prefera-bly at school building sites where hecould observe individual teachersimplementing his test-wisenesstechniques.

2. Provide training to ensure thatgains will continue for previously

One School's National Percentile Rankson the SRA for Fall and Spring

CompositeGrade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade fi

Fall 36 56 55 40Spring 56 66 66 50

Reacl;ng Total

Fall 40 56 56 49Spring 70 66 67 54

Language TotalFall 37 56 47 38Spring 43 61 57 46

Math TotalFall 37 49 50 38

Spring 50 65 67 45

trained students and to involve newstudents who enroll in participatingbuildings.

3. Start new test-wiseness pro-grams in new schools to bring all ele-mentary students up to the level ofthose currently participating.

4. Track specific students from thefall test to the spring test, regardless oftheir movement within the district.(Three of the eight selected schoolshad very transient populations.)

5. Measure whether test-wisenesstraining improves day-to-day perform-ance on teacher-made quizzes andtests.

6. Conduct a longitudinal study,with a control group if possible, tomeasure whether improvementcontinues over more than one schoolyear.

7. Evaluate the results of the test-wiseness intervention for the entiredistrict.

In spite of its success and therecommendations for its improvement,the test-wiseness training program didnot continue for a second year. Thedistrict wanted to continue theprogram, but only if Dr. McPhailhimself could conduct the workshopsand consultations.

Circumstances in the district andchanges in Dr. McPhail's obligationsand duties prevented scheduling yeartwo of the program. It was both thedistrict's and Dr. McPhail's hope,however, that the test-wisenesstraining program could continue in thenear future because the district hadseen that it was, indeed, a prow=that worked.

14 Breakthrough Summer 1988jr,

Who Needs to be Test Wise?Bob Croninger

Should students be taught test-wiseness skills? Yes! Some

students, not necessarily those whoare less capable, are simply poor test-takers. They fail to read directionscarefully. They waste time onquestions that stump them. Theymisread contextual clues and usefaulty guessing strategies. Many ofthese students do poorly on tests, notbecause they are less intelligent butbecause they are poor test-takers.Test-taking skills, however, can betaught, and when students are taughthow to take tests better, they also dobetter on tests.

If tests are to measure the abilitiesof students fairly, then students shouldbe taught how to take tests wisely, sothat every student has an equalopportunity to do well. No group ofstudents, in other words, should behandicapped by beliefs and behaviorsthat are not relevant to the content of atest. Tests, after all, are supposed to

Bob Croningi z.s

a senior rese .a.1:associate fo thePrograms f_vEducationalOpportunityDuring the past tenyears he has

helped school districts and communitygroups examine how school policiesand practices shape tne educationalexperiences of girls, Black children,and children from ethnic minorityfamilies. He has written about at-riskstudents, sexual harrassment, and theprinciples of planned change forschools.

Summer 1988

measure a student's knowledge, not astudent's test-taking savvy, nor anyother extraneous characteristic for thatmatter, such as a student's race,gender or nation of origin.

Many educators, of course, agree.They argue that students, especiallyat-risk students, who are most oftenill-prepared for testir.g, should beinstructed in how to take tests. Theyshould be advised about preparing fortests, provided examples of differenttest formats, instructed in differenttest-taking strategies and evencoached on how to use this knowledgewhen taking specific standardizedtests. These educators believe thatpoor test taking is a formidableobstacle to student success, so they aredeveloping instructional materials thatencourage students to be test wise.

Parents of at-risk students areexcited by these initiatives. Theybelieve that test wiseness, if properlytaught and supported by the schools,

help their children achieve better.,....1 s on important standardized tests.1.)i years they have noted how testingdiscriminates against their children,and they have complained that testingdenies their children importanteducational opportunities and dam-ages self-esteem. Many parents hopethat their children will now be giventhe chance they deserve to do well inschool and benefit from their achieve-ment.

But as these initiatives are beingimplemented, a second question needsto be asked: who else needs to be testwise? Is it sufficient, or is it even fair,

1 6

to focus all our attention on the test-taking habits of some students? Whatabout the test-making and test-usehabits of parents, teachers, guidancecounselors, administrators andprofessional test-makers? To ignoreasking about the test wiseness of thesepeople certainly sets students up forfailure, because it overlooks theresponsibility of those with the mostpower to influence testing.

If we are not to "blame the vic-tims" of testing, to use WilliamRyan's now famous phrase, we mustinsist on a much broader definition oftest wiseness. Test wiseness, in itsbroadest sense, is common senseabout testing, common sense not justabout taking tests but about makingand using tests, too. Test wiseness, inother words, is not simply a set of test-taking strategies; it is also a body ofknowledge about how to assessaccurately, constructively and fairlythe abilities of children. Test wise-ness, therefore, should be a character-istic of every aspect of testing.

Do students need to be test wise?Yes! But so, too, do many of the

"Test wiseness.. .

is common sensenot just abouttaking tests butabout making andusing tests, too."

Breakthrough 15

other people who influence the conse-quences of testing for students. Testwiseness is not restricted to the test-taking habits of students; it includesall aspects of testing, from thedeveloping of test items, to theselection of tests, to test administra-tion, interpretation, and use. If testwiseness is to have significant benefitsfor students, especially at-risk stu-dents, then educators must address itsignificantly. The following people,therefore, also need to be test wise.

1. Parents must be test wise aboutusing tests to assure accountability.Parents are pressuring schools toimprove their curricula and instruc-tional practices, and they are mandat-ing through local school boards andstate legislators that schools be heldaccountable for the quality of educa-tion they provide students. Since thepublication of A Nation At Risk, themhas been a call to "get tough" witheducation. Many schools haveresponded by requiring more andmore testing of students, including agreater emphasis on using test resultsto determine everything from promo-tions to curriculum content.

Public schools need to be heldaccountable to the parents of children;such accountability has been animportant impetus to reform andchange during the last quarter of acentury. But an excessive emphasison testing will inhibit learning,encourage invidious comparisons ofschools and students, and quitepossibly harm those who havetraditionally suffered most fromtesting. Parents have a right to insiston accountability, but they should notbase it solely or perhaps even princi-pally on test scores. To do so wouldoversimplify necessary reforms.

Parents must demonstrate their testwiseness by first accepting their ownresponsibility for learning, by motivat-

"Test wisenesswill only makesense to students ifthey believe thattesting is fair . . ."

ing their children to do well in school,and by supporting their efforts inwhatever way possible. Parents mustalso, however, insist on a broaddefinition of test wiseness, especiallyin schools in which testing is afundamental aspect of the instruc-tional program. They must ask for as-surances that students will not bear theburden of increased testing, thatadministrators, principals, guidancecounselors and teachers will accepttheir responsibility for fair andconstructive testing, too.

2. Teachers must be test wiseabout how test-making and test-takinghabits affect test results. Ultimately,teachers have the most direct effect ona student's test-taking habits. Theyaffect those habits by how they makeand present tests to students. ifteachers approach testing primarily asan instructional tool, providingstudents with feedback and oppui tuni-ties to learn from their mistakes, thenstudents are likely to approach testingas an important aspect of theirschooling. If, 1 owever, testing is anisolated event, one used primarily forsorting or disciplining, test wisenesswill not flourish, for students willhave little opportunity to develop oruse test-wiseness skills successfully.

Indeed, when testing is not used asan instructional tool, it often becomesadversarial, pitting students againststudents, as well as students againstteachers. It intensifies testing anxiety,because the consequences of testing

are more serious and irreversible, andit increases the animosity studentshave toward schooling because theyfeel unfairly victimized and humili-ated by test results. Test wiseness willonly make sense to students if theybelieve that testing is fair, that theywill benefit from testing, and that theycan reasonably influence test results.

If students are to be test wise, thencertainly teachers must demonstrategood judgment about testing. Theymust make tests that are fair, thatcover material students can beexpected to know, that presentquestions clearly and properly andprovide adequate time for students todo well. They must also thoroughlyreview test results with students,pointing out, when possible, test-taking habits that interfere withstudents doing well, and they musthelp students adopt test-wisenessstrategies and provide students withopportunities to use those strategies toimprove their test performance.

3. Guidzice counselors need tobe test wise about using tests tocategorize students, identify specialneeds or place students in abilitygroupings. Most of the law suits thathave been filed against schools fortesting have argued that test resultswere inappropriately used to denystudents educational opportunities.These suits point to the manner inwhich test results were used to placechildren in ability groupings, specialeducation classes or label them asintellectually infe:ior. What hasalarmed the plaintiffs most in thesecases is the manner in which manystudents are unable to reverse theselabels, even after evidence of testbiases and subsequent performancessuggest the need to alter the originalinterpretation of test results.

Because counselors are oftenresponsible for student records, as


well as the use and interpretation ofcertain diagnostic tests, they have aspecial responsibility in this regard.They must assure that test results donot become the basis for self-fulfillingprophecies that encourage academicfailure or foster restrictive stereotypes.Guidance counselors, therefore, mustdemonstrate their test wiseness byassuring that test results are not thesole factor used in categorizing an.placing students, and where evidenceof test bias exists, counselors shouldassure that test results are not a factorat all.

Minimally, therefore, guidancecounselors should pay special atten-tion to the manner in which test resultsare recorded in students' records andpresented to interested others. Theyshould assure that other diagnosticfactors, such as anecdotes andobservations from classroom teachers,as well as information about potentialtest biases, are included in the records,especially when this informationcontradicts or tempers interpretationsthat may exclude students fromopportunities afforded other children.Guidance counselors should alsodissuade others from using test resultsthat may be biased against certaingroups of students.

4. Principals need to be test wiseabout effective instruction and usingtests to measure achievement Princi-pals are the instructional leaders oftheir schools. They set the tone forteaching and learning. As witheffective schooling or any other set ofdesired outcomes, principal support isan important predictor of success.They can establish an atmosphere inwhich achievement is highly valuedand students are motivated to do wellon tests. They can set standards fortesting, and they can provide opportu-nities for staff to develop and improveknowledge and skills basic to thosestandards.

Principals can demonstrate theirtest wiseness by assuring that studentsreceive the best and most effectiveinstruction possible, instruction thatprepares students for the content oftests without inappropriately narrow-ing the curriculum. In doing soprincipals acknowledge the school'sresponsibility for learning, and theyplace testing in its proper role, as ameans to improve learning, not an endto itself. By establishing a positive,well-balanced climate for achievementand testing, principals can do much toencourage the test wiseness ofstudents, parents, teachers and otherschool personnel.

S. District administrators need tobe test wise about the potentialmisuses and abuse of testing. Manyeducational reforms launched duringrecent years have included provisionsfor increased testing of students.District administrators and schoolboard members are under it creasedpressure to demonstrate progress, andto do so many are turning to standard-ized tests and other exams as a way toevaluate programs and assure ac-countability. Without safeguards,however, students, especially at-riskstudents, are likely to be victimized bythese pressures and testing practices.

As testing becomes a more promi-nent part of a district's educationalProgram, administrators shouldacknowledge their responsibility forassuring that test results are properlyused. The guidelines and policies thatthey set should demonstrate theircommitment to test wiseness, not justfor students but for all school person-nel. They should set the tone fortesting in the district, clearly stating itsproper and improper uses, as well asthe safeguards to be established forassuring that student ability is accu-rately and fairly assessed.

Minimally, administrators need to

demonstrate their test wiseness bysetting policies that assure the openreview of testing practices and results,require careful consideration ofpotential biases when selecting testsand assign personnel to evaluate theeducational effects of testing forstudents, particularly those mostvulnerable to test abuse. Being testwise, in this regard, requires a clearunderstanding of the limitations oftesting technology, of what can beproperly accomplished by it and whatpolicies protect students from testmisuse and abuse.

6. Finally, professional test-makers must be test wise about howtheir tests affect students and theirschooling. Standardized tests havebecome exceptionally important in theeducational life of students. At anearly age, say six or seven, moststudents are given some form of astandardized test. Their performanceis then compared to those of otherstudents, and opinions are formedabout their actual and potentialabilities. During the next ten tofifteen years, they will take more tests,especially those students who competewith others for the most prizededucational opportunities. Studentswho do well will be rewarded withnew chances to learn and advance;those who do poorly will not.

Standardized tests are a powerful,if not ubiquitous, aspect of contempo-rary schooling. They are used widelyto assess the strengths and weaknessesof individual students, to identifyspecific cognitive difficulties, tomeasure the impact of educationalprograms, and to select students forcompetitive rewards and learningopportunities. But where there iswidespread use, there is also wide-spread responsibility, and those whomust bear responsibility are those whodevelop tests and present them as abenign, credible and objective


1

measurement of educational ability.Indeed, there is probably no group ofpeople better suited to perform thistask, for there is no other group thathas specific information about testdevelopment and potential biases.

Professional test-makers, therefore,must be test wise. They must recog-nize the dangers that tests pose tostudents when they are misused, andthey must prevent misuses by makingthe facts about their tests less mysteri-ous, remote and difficult to under-stand. Test-makers, in other words,must provide students, parents andeducators important consumerinformation. They must warn aboutthe misuses of testing and provideclear, understandable examples ofappropriate and inappropriate uses.They must guard against potentialbiases in test content, noting discrep-ancies in scores that reflect gender,racial, ethnic or linguistic differences,and they must suggest alternativeways of accurately measuring theabilities of these students.

Standardized tests are a mixedblessing. They provide importanteducational information aboutstudents, information that can be usedto benefit or harm children. Obvi-ously, test-makers cannot be heldresponsible for every misuse or abuseof testing. They cannot guarantee thateducators, be they classroom teachersor college professors, will use stan-dardized tests responsibly. They can,however, guarantee that parents,students and educators have theinformation they need to makeresponsible, informed decisions abouttesting. And this they should do. For,ultimately, the misuses and abuse oftesting can only be prevented by aninformed educational community... a test-wise community.

18 Breakthrough

A Test- Wiseness PrimerD. Groves Dugger

In 1987 nearly 1.8 million highschool students took either the

Educational Testing Service's Scho-lastic Aptitude Test (SAT), or theAmerican College Testing Program'sAmerican College Test (ACT), anincrease of approximately sevenpercent from 1986.' National, state,and local education policy makershave expanded the use of competency,achievement, college admissions andother standardized tests. Tests nowevaluate not only student performance,but also the performance of theirteachers, educational programs andeven entire districts.

In response, many educators havebegun to implement test-wisenessprograms designed to improve theirstudents' test-taking skills. Theseprograms can be relatively inexpen-sive, require a minimal amount oftime, and are considered an ethicalmeans of improving test scores. Asevaluation specialist Jaro ld Zachariusstated, "If you're going to be involvedwith these tests, it would be stupid notto engage in test-taking instruction."'

D. Groves Duggeris a researchassociate in theassessment

component of thePrograms forEducationalOpportunity. His

expertise is general research method-ology and data management. He hasalso contributed articles on maleequity and at-risk students.

Milhnan's Theoryof Test Wiseness

The cornerstone theoretical work intest wiseness was done by Millman,Bishop and Ebel in 1965. Millmandefined test wiseness as "a subject'scapacity to utilizo the characteristicsand formats of the test and/or the test-taking situation to receive a highscore. Test wiseness is logicallyindependent of the examinee'sknowledge of the subject matter forwhich the items are supposedlymeasures." 3

According to Millman, testwiseness is divided into two majorcategories, strategies independent ofthe test constructor

1) time use2) error avoidance3) guessing and4) deductive reasoning

and strategies dependent on the testconstructor

1) intent consideration and2) test cue using.'

Objective and Subjective TestsIt would seem that most test-

wiseness strategies are primarilyapplicable to closed-ended, objective,multiple-choice exams. In fact,Sarnacki, in his review of research,found that scores on many respectedstandardized tests, such as the Califor-nia Achievement Test, MetropolitanAchievement Test, Stanford ReadingTest and the Iowa Test of EducationalDevelopment can be improved by theapplication of test-wiseness skills .5

Summer 1988

According to Sarnacki, test-wiseness is not limited to objectivetests because time-using and error-avoidance strategies are also appli-cable to more subjective tests, such asessay examinations. Furthennore,knowledge of the test constructor'sintent and idiosyncrasies in testmaking and grading will help theexaminee do better in many testingsituations.'

Subject MatterRegardless of the subject matter,

test scores can be improved byteaching test-wiseness skills. Sarnackireports that language, math, wordknowledge, science, vocabulary,analogies, correctness of expression,general information, and reading areall sensitive to test-wiseness strate-gies.?

That test-wiseness skills work withary test content was aptly demon-strated by Bajtelsmit in 1975. Heused a testing instrument with"content-free" (nonsensical) items, inwhich the correct answer could onlybe derived through the application ofcertain test-wiseness strategies."

Methods and DurationTest-wiseness strategies have been

successfully taught by a variety ofmethods including supervised study,independent reading, programmedinstruction, and mail correspondencecourses. All can provide somecompetency in test - wiseness skills.9

Most test-wiseness researchsuggests that test-wiseness programsneed not be long in duration toproduce gains. In fact, most instruc-tional lessons used in test-wisenessresearch studies lasted no longer thanone to two hours .10

However, it seems that the mostsignificant gains result from five toseven week test-wiseness programs.In Samson's 1985 meta-analysis of

74 research studies, the largest meaneffect size occurred when the instruc-tional program lasted between fiveand seven weeks." Bangert-Drowns,Kulik, and Kulik found similar resultsin their 1983 meta-analysis of 30studies." These studies showed thatthere are realistic limits on theimprovement that can be made anddiminishing returns with increasinginvestments of time."

Massick and Jungeblut alsoobserved that improvement in compre-hension and reasoning skills, asmeasured by the SAT, requiregeometrically increasing amounts oftime and effort. This suggests that thetime required to achieve average scoreincreases greater than 20 or 30 pointson a test similar to the SAT rapidlyapproaches that of full-time school-inVerbal Achievement

Verbal achievement as measuredon the SAT verbal scale was stronglycorrelated with test-wiseness." Thisfinding was replicated by other re-searchers who observed strong corre-lations between verbal ability and test

wiseness as measured on the IowaBasic Skills Battery."

Interestingly, when students withstrong verbal and reading skills werecompared to students with less devel-oped verbal and reading skills, theydid not exhibit as dramatic improve-ments in scoring. Participants withstrong skills had less room to improve,while participants at lower verbalskill levels attained skills that werealready part of the better students'cr'gnitive arsenal.

Age and GradeAge and grade have also been

examined as potential correlates of testwiseness. Researchers have discov-ered that as student grade levelincreases so does performance on test-wiseness scales. This relationshipbetween grade and performance ontest-wiseness scales begins to diminishduring the high school years, however,leading many researchers to proposethat at a certain point in a student'seducational experience, particularlythe high school years, the schoolcohort becomes relatively homogene-ous in test-wiseness due to maturation,

COACHING EFFECTS BY HOURS OF INSTRUCTION

50

40

30Coaching Effects

20

10

00

IMMOIMPAMMEMMMMUMMINOMMMEMIIMMEEMMAMMEEME

0 10 15 20 25 10 35 40 45

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experience and a general desire toachieve." Others suggest that as theage or grade of the student increases,deductive reasoning skills becomemore developed."

Lastly, other researchers havesuggested that exposure to numeroustests and test formats, which is afundamental test-wiseness concept, isdirrctly correlated with experience andage." Although many researchershave concluded that the acquisition oftest-wiseness skills may be mostuseful for certain age groups ordevelopmental periods, test-wisenessskills benefit people of all agegroups."

SES and RaceResearchers have found that low

socio-economic status (SES) studentsin urban school settings are particu-larly receptive to acquiring test-wiseness skills and these students tendto be members of minority groups.The ability to acquire test-wisenessskills, however, is not related to racebut to other factors previouslydiscussed, such as verbal and readingskill. Because urban schools generallyhave larger student populations withmoderate verbal and reading skills,students in these schools fit the mostcoachable student profile."

Anxiety and MotivationThe two most prominent variables

demonstrated to be negativelycorrelated wits test-wiseness are testanxiety and testes motivation. Testanxiety and motivation play criticalroles in the examinee's test perform-ance and are the greatest sources ofvariance in all exam situations andtest-wiseness research.=

Some research has suggested thatBlack students tested by Blackproctors receive higher test scores thanBlack students tested by whiteproctors. Perhaps Black students

tested by Black proctors experienceless stress and anxiety. The "psycho-logical state" of the examinee plays anintegral role in test performance."

According to Hill, debilitating testanxiety and other factors (includinginherent test biases and differentialtest-taking skills) may cause standard-ized tests to measure students' testingskills rather than their ability, knowl-edge, or the effectiveness of theireducational programs."

Durability andBroad Based Applicability

Although most researchers believethat test-wiseness skills can be taughtto a broad spectrum of ages, most alsoagree that reinforcement of test-wiseness skills is essential to ensurethe durability of these skills. Onestudy of adults discovered that test-wiseness skills developed after yearsof testing declined with the passage oftime, and that skills acquired throughyears of test-taking, across all aca-demic levels, dissipated with years ofnon-testing, resulting in the inabilityto test well later in life."

Although all test-wiseness pro-grams may not be applicable to othertasks outside of test-taking, someresearchers believe that test-wisenessprograms designed to provide broadbased cognitive skill development areapplicable to other tasks. Deductivereasoning and item cue strategiesfocus on the examinee, and thesestrategies can be useful outside of thetesting situation. They emphasizealternative means of reasoning andthinking which broaden cognitiveabilities by providing new means ofprocessing information efficiently andaccurately.

Research suggests that the globalutility of test-wiseness skills isimportant and should be formallyaddressed. Broad based cognitive

test-wiseness skills assist in trainingindividuals to think and reason in anintegrated fashion. Messick probablystates the importance of broad-basedtest-wiseness training most eloquently:"The most rational means to prepare tstudent for standardized tests would beto develop a secondary schoolcurriculum which emphasizes thedevelopment of thought as well asknowledge?'"

Test ValidityIn sum, test-wiseness training can

ensure greater homogeneity of thetest-wiseness trait among test takers.If students know how to take the test,then their performance will be basedon what the test was supposed tomeasure, increasing test validity.

Jongsma states that "virtually allauthorities in educational measure-ment recognize test wiseness as asource of variance on educationaltests. Most would also agree thatvariance due to test wiseness isundesirable in that it reduces thevalidity of the test."2"

The implementation of a broadbased test-wiseness skill developmentprogram is not a panacea. Theteaching of test-wiseness skills willrarely produce dramatic, significantincreases in student test performance.Test wiseness will, however, provideanother level of expertise that willreduce a student's test anxiety,improve inductive and deductivereasoning skills, and broaden his orher cognitive abilities.

Most importantly, the implementa-tion of a broad based test-wisenessskill development program willequalize the testing skills of students.This will subsequently provide moreaccurate assessments of studentability, student knowledge, andcurriculum and program effectivenessto students, administrators, and policymakers.


References

1. "Blr.ok Students' Standard TestScores Up Sharply Again," Ann ArborNews, September 22, 1987, p. C3.

2. Gregg W. Downey, "Is It Time WeStarted Teaching Children How toTake Tests?" American School BoardJournal, 164 (1977): 27.

3. Jason Millman, Carol H. Bishop, &Robert L. Ebel, "An Analysis of Test-wiseness," Educational and Psycho-logical Measurement, 25 (1965): 710.

4. Millman et al., p. 712.

5. Randolph E Samacki, "An Ex-amination of Test-wiseness in theCognitive Test Domain," Review ofEducational Research, 49 (1979):265.

6. Sarnacki, p. 252.

7. Sarnacki, p. 265.

8. J. W. Bajtelsmit, "The Efficacy ofTest-wiseness and Systematic Desen-sitization Programs for IncreasingTest-taking Skills," a paper presentedat the annual meeting of the NationalCouncil on Measurement in Educa-tion, Washington, D.C., 1975, sr citedby Samacki, p. 265.

9. Samacki, p. 275.

10. Phil Jones & Glynn Ligon,Preparing Students for StandardizedTests: A Literature Review, (Austin,TX: Texas Office of Research andEvaluation, 1981) as cited by JoAnnM. Prell & Paul A. Prell, "ImprovingTest Scores - Teaching Test-wiseness: A Review of theLiterature," Research Bulletin,(Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa,Center on Evaluation, Development,and Research, November 1986).

Summer 1988

11. Gordon E. Samson, "Effects ofTraining in Test Taking Skills onAchievement Test Performance," TheJournal of Educational Research, 78(1985): 263.

12. Robert L. Bangert-Drowns, JamesA. Kulik, & Chen-Lin C. Kulik,"Effects of Coaching Programs onAchievement Test Performance,"Review o; Educeonal Research,Winter, 53 (1983): 579.

13. Bangert-Drowns et al., p. 582.

14. Samuel Messick & AnnJungeblut, "Time and Method inCoaching for the SAT,"PsychologicalBulletin, 89 (1981): 191-216.

15. J. W. Bajtelsmit, "Developmentand Validation of an Adult Measure ofSecondary Cue-using Strategies onObjective Examinations: The Test ofObscure Knowledge (TOOK)," apaper presented at the annual meetingof the Northeastern EducationalResearch Association, Ellenville, NewYork, October 1975, as cited by Sar-nacki, p. 269.

16. James J. Diamond & William J.Evans, "An Investigation of theCognitive Correlates of Test-wiseness," Journal of EducationalMeasurement, 9 (1972): 145-150.

17. Malcolm J. Slakter, Roger A.Koehler, & Sandra H. Hampton,"Grade Level, Sex, and SelectedAspects of Test-wiseness," Journal ofEducational Measurement, 7 (1970):119-122.

18. Slalcter et al., p.121.

19. L H. Kreit, "The Effects of Test-taking Practice on Pupil TestPerformance," American EducationalResearch Journal, 5 (1968): 616-625.

i , 4

20. Samacki, p. 264.

21. M. Dillard, J. Warrior-Benjamin,& D. W. Perrin, "Efficacy of Test-wiseness on Test Anxiety and ReadingAchievement among Black Youth,"Psychological Reports, 41 (1977):1135-1140.

22. Kennedy T. Hill, "DebilitatingMotivation and Testing: A MajorEducational Problem, PossibleSolutions and Policy Applications," inR. Ames & C. Ames (Eds.), Researchon Motivation in Education: StudentMotivation, Vol. I (New York:Academic Press, Inc., 1984), p. 270-271.

23. Peter Watson, "I.Q.: The RacialGap," Psychology Today, 6 (1972):48-50,97,99.

24. Hill, pp. 270-271.

25. K. K. Woodley, "Test-wiseness:A Cognitive Function?" a paperpresented at the annual meeting of theNational Council on Measurement inEducation, Washington, D.C., April1975, cited in Sarnacki, p. 264.

26. Messick & Jungeblut, pp. 215-216.

27. Eugene Jongsma & ElaineWarshauer, The Effects of Instructionin Test Taking Skills upon StudentPerformance on StandardizedAchievement Tests (New Orleans,LA: Louisiana Department ofElementary and Secondary Education,1975), p. 20. ERIC DocumentReproduction Service ED 114 408.

Breakthrough 21

AdditionalReferencesElizabeth M. Minims

Anastasi, Anne. "Coaching, TestSophistication, and DevelopedAbiiiue ," American Psychologist,36 (1981): 1086-1093.

Callenbach, Carl. "The Effects ofInstruction and Practice in Content-Independent Test-Taking Tech-niques Upon the StandardizedReading Test Scores of SelectedSecond Grade Students," Journal ofEducational Measurement, 10(1973): 25-30.

Colligan, Louise. Scholastic's A+Guide to Taking Tens. New f ork:Scholastic, Inc., 1982.

Conlan, Gertrude. "Reading BetterWill Help You Prepare for theSAT," College Prep: CounselingStudents for Higher Education,second edition. Princeton, NJ:College Entrance ExaminationBoard, 1987.

Dobbins, John E. How to Take a Test.Monterey, CA: CTB/McGraw Hill,1984.

Ford, Valerie. Everything YouWanted to Know About Test-Wiseness. Washington, D.C.: U.S.Department of Health, Educationand Welfare, Superintendent ofDocuments, Government PrintingOffice, 1973. ERIC DocumentReproduction Service, ED 093 912.

Gilbert, Sara. How to Take Tests.New York: William Morrow andCompany,1983.

Gruber, Gary R. Inside Strategies forthe S.A.T. New York: EducationalDesign, Inc., 1982.

Guidelines ..In the Uses of CollegeBoard Test Scores and RelatedData. Princeton, NJ: CollegeEntrance Examination Board, 1988.

Kesselman-Turkel, Judi and Peterson,Franklynn. Test-Taking Strategies.Chicago: Contemporary Books,Inc., 1981.

Millman, ion and Pauk, Walter.How to Take Tests. New York:McGraw-Hill Book Company,1969.

Oakland, Thomas. "The Effects ofTest-Wiseness Materials onStandardized Test Performance ofPreschool Disadvantaged Children,"The Journal of School Psychology,10 (1972): 355-360.

A Parent's Guide to StandardizedAptitude and Achievement Testing.Arlington, VA: National SchoolPublic Relations Association, 1978.

Preparing for the ACT Assessment.Iowa City, IA: American CollegeTesting Program, 1985.

Shuller, Stephen M. A Large ScaleAssessment of an InstructionalProgram to Improve Test-Wisenessin Elementary School Students.New York: Educational Solutions,Inc., 1979. ERIC DocumentReproduction Service ED 189 143.

Student Bulletin: 1987 PSAT /NMSQT.Princeton, NJ: College Board andNational Merit Scholarship Corpo-ration, 1987.

Taking the SAT: The Official Guide tothe Scholastic Aptitude Test and

Test of Standard Written English.1986-87 revised edition. Princeton,NJ: The College Entrance Exami-nation Board, 1986.

Teaching Students to be Testwise: AHandbook for Teachers WhoAdminister or Construct Tests.Grades K-12. Rockville, MD:Montgomery County PublicSchools, 1982.

Testing Handbooi 1985-1986: AResource fok. Planning and Imple-menting hool Testing Programs.Pontiac, MI: Oakland SchoolsDepartment of Measurement andGuidance, 1986.

Services in theArea of Testing.Aurora Ramirez- Krodel,PEO librarian

American College Testing (ACT)ProgramBox 168Iowa City, Iowa 52243(319) 337-1000Provides guidance oriented assessmentand research programs for students,secondary schools, universities,vocational-technical institutes, andscholarship agencies. The ACT As-sessment Program, which consists of aprofile questionnaire, interest inven-tory, and four 30-50 minute tests inEnglish, mathematics, social studies,and natural sciences, is used byapproximately one million studentsannually. ACT also provides residentand contract services to educationalinstitutions, organizations, andagencies.


2 u

Association for Measurement andEvaluation in Counseling andDevelopment (AMECD)5999 Stevenson DivisionAlexandria, VA 22304(703) 823-9800A division of the American Associa-tion for Counseling and Development(AACD) for people who plan, admini-ster, and conduct testing programs,provide test scoring services, interpretand use test results, and developevaluation instruments. The divisionidentifies problems in the use ofevaluation tools, promotes researchconcerning these problems, dissemi-nates research results, and provides aforum for exchange of concerns.

Boston UniversitySchool of EducationCenter for Assessment &Design of Learning605 Commonwealth AvenueBoston, MA 02215(617) 353-2699Concerned with educational assess-ment and the prescriptive planningprocess; assesses students with anindividually planned, research-basedbattery of reading and language testsand selected cognitive and affectivemeasures. Conducts follow-up studiesof clients served and evaluates theassessment and prescriptive process.

Educational Records Bureau (ERB)Bardwell Hall37 Cameron StreetWellesley, MA 02181(617) 235-8920Provides measurement services andresearch to member schools, helpingthem obtain reliable and comparablemeasurements of the abilities andacademic achievements of theirstudents. Plans organized testingprograms, scores tests, reports resultsto schools, prepares normative data,

maintains cumulative records ofscores, conducts research on testresults, publishes research reports ontesting and assists schools in using testresults in instruction and guidance.Evaluates school testing programs andprovides in-service training of staff.Serves as an independent evaluationagency.

Educational Testing Service (ETS)MidwestOne American PlazaEvanston, IL 60201(312) 869-7700Develops and administers tests,conducts research on all aspects oftesting and test use, and develops testpreparation aids.

ERIC Clearinghouse onTests, Measurement and EvaluationEducational Testing ServiceRosedale RoadPrinceton, New Jersey 08541(609) 734-5176Archives information on tests andother measurement devices; methodol-ogy of measurement and evaluation;application of tests, measurement, orevaluation in educational projects orprograms; research design andmethodology; and learning theory ingeneral.

FairTestNational Center for Fair and OpenTestingBox 1272Harvard Square StationCambridge, MA 02238(617) 864-4810Research and advocacy organizationdedicated to ensuring that the 40million standardized test administeredannually to America's students andjob applicants are fair, open, and edu-cationally sound.

National Assessment ofEducational Progress (NAEP)CN 6710Princeton, NJ 08541(609) 734-1624A program of Office of EducationalResearch and Improvement (OERI),U.S. Dept. of Education, under a grantto ETS. Provides ctasus-like data oneducational levels. Conducts nationalassessments in major learning areas.Reports results to public and educa-tional decision makers.

National Council on Measurementin Education (NCME)1230 17th Street, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20036(202) 223-9318Test publishers, educational measure-ment specialists, and educators inter-ested in measurement of humanabilities, personality characteristicsand educational achievement and inprocedures appropriate for theinterpretation and use of such meas-ures.

Western Michigan UniversityEvaluation CenterEllsworth Hall 401 BKalamazoo, MI 49008(616) 383-8166Conducts program evaluations,develops tests and other measurementinstruments, and conducts studies inthe areas of decision making, informa-tion usage, and organizational pat-terns. Evaluates government andschool district programs and developsand tests evaluation theories andstandards.

Sources'Encyclopedia of Associations. 6th ed.Margaret Fisk, editor. Detroit: GaleResearch Co., 1988.

Research Centers Direckhy. Detroit:Gale Research C'o., 1988.


Programs for Educational Opportunity (PEO) is acombined race, gender, and national origin desegregation as-sistance center funded by the U. S. Department of Educationunder Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. PEO provid.stechnical assistance without charge to eligible public schooldistricts in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minne-sota, Ohio, and Wisconsin to develop programs that promoteequity and remove discriminatory practices. Please write orcall us at the address or teiephone given below if you wouldlike to know more about our services.

Breakthrough is a periodic publication of PEO highlightingeducational issues and effective approaches for enhancingequity and excellence through planned change. Its cementsdo not necessarily reflect the position or policy of theDepartment of Education and no endorsement should beinferred.

This issue of Breakthrough was prepared by:Director: Percy BatesEditor: Elizabeth M. limnsEditorial Consultant & Designer: Ted WilsonWord Processor: Jacqueline BlakePhotographs: Janet L. Scales, pp. 1 & 8; Al Roberts, p. 2;

Bob Kalmbach, UM News & Information Services, p. 3;UM Photo and Campus Services, pp. 10,15 & 18

thfuNgtiC

Programs for Educational OpportunitySchool of EducationThe University of MichiganAnn Arbor. Michigan 48109-1259Telephone: (313) 763-9910

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