Ready, Set, Test!

It’s March and the two things that I think of are spring and testing!!! Yes, it’s once again time for our children to take the infamous, Maryland State Assessment tests (MSA). In my house, there is always chatter from my children about not wanting to “fail” the MSAs. And while I remind them that they cannot fail, I do, however, try to impress upon them to make sure that they take their time, read each question thoroughly and answer to the best of their ability.

The MSA is a barometer that indicates whether students are making progress toward mastery of state content standards, and it also measures a school’s academic performance. Preparing for the MSAs, or any exam, will take a great deal of effort, time and instruction not just from the schools, but also from the home. And don’t think that one or two nights of going over online MSA sample test questions will boost your child’s score.—it can help familiarize your child with the look and feel for test questions-- The MSA is a comprehensive exam covering material taught from the beginning of the year.

To follow is a list of edited suggestions from Great Schools.com to help your child prepare throughout the academic year.

Review homework together – You must stay on top of daily assignments: First, make sure your child completes all of their assigned homework. If you check homework, you will see if he/she understands what they are doing and can review and explain the difficult parts in a way that best suits their learning ability. Review the chapters, class material, study sheets, and notes with them a day or two (or more) before the test, frequency will depend on age level.

Break information into chunks -- Break the information up into smaller sections. Sometimes kids get overwhelmed by the amount of content they need to learn. By breaking the information up, they can feel successful when the information is retained.

Practice with your child -- Make sure to go over material with your children. The most important thing is telling them that they're ready to take the test, this will boost their confidence.

As I see it, to be successful in taking any test, children must build on their prior knowledge and feel confident about their abilities. This is how we turn our children into life-long-learners. If we in turn support the curriculum being taught in the classroom, we become active participants raising young men and women who are confident and knowledgeable students, test takers and adults.  

Have you joined the LWES PTA yet? If not, click this link to join. It’s never too late to join. We need volunteers to help us with our upcoming events, International Night (April 30) and 40th Anniversary Carnival (May 30).