How and How Not to Prepare Students for the New Tests

Abstract

Abstract“Data‐driven school reform” emphasizes the idea that if teachers analyze the kinds of questions students miss on standardized reading comprehension tests, and then give students lots of practice with such items, they will end up with higher test scores. This approach is likely to be popular with the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC; http://www.parcconline.org) and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC; http://www.smarterbalanced.org) tests given their innovative item designs. However, research shows that reading comprehension tests do not measure these question‐answering skills, but instead estimate how well students can read particular kinds of texts with understanding. PARCC and SBAC are pointedly avoiding making claims that their assessments will reveal whether students are meeting particular standards, but instead provide an overall estimate of reading comprehension. Various alternative approaches to improving achievement on these new tests are recommended.