It has been a bit since I posted as we are all feeling the rush of the end of the school year happenings!  We received our numerous boxes of our state assessment materials today.  Our students will have the chance to show what they learned this year.  Our teachers have done a wonderful job this year in preparing our students.  We have focused on the data, although we will continue to refine this process in the future.  I previously posted on using data and I encourage you to check it out if you have not had a chance to read it.

At this point I just try to boost the kid’s confidence.  I remind them daily of how much they have grown academically this year and now they will have the chance to prove it on paper.  I know most of my teachers will be reviewing the standards over the next few days, but it is impossible to cram at this point.  I think the reviews are a good idea but at this point I think a healthy dose of encouragement and confidence building are more effective.

Here are some of my specific strategies:

Talk up the upcoming test with the students, but be careful not to stress them out!  You can often hear me in the hallways reminding the kids and telling them how ready they are!

Meet with kids individually or in small groups.  This takes some time but it can be done formally or simply by pulling them aside on the way to lunch.  I use this time to talk about their year and how they feel about their academic performance. 

At my school we are going to use incentives for attendance.  I know there is a tremendous amount of debate on the merits of incentives, but it works for us at our school.

Make sure the teachers are preparing the students for the testing “conditions”.  We actually do this all year as we feel the more experience they have in testing environments the more comfortable they will be on the big day!

Here are a few of the strategies I use for last minute preparation.  What are you doing at your school?