Test-Specific Thinking

In Test-Specific Thinking, the authors provide recommended practices, methods, and means for educators to implement structural schemas into teaching, helping students better prepare for tests and formulate stronger responses to certain question frames. Armed with a better understanding of how tests are designed, teachers will increase their students’ chances of success with higher achievement scores and greater confidence when taking standardized exams.

K–12 teachers and school leaders can use this book to:

• Examine recurrent structural patterns common in English and mathematics assessment questions
• Break down sample test questions to identify the skills or response a certain frame seeks
• Incorporate test item structures into classroom teaching to better prepare students as test takers
• Develop and design assessments that familiarize students with the frames they will encounter on external exams
• Boost student confidence and increase performance on standardized tests

Contents:
Introduction: Revealing an Inconvenient Truth
Chapter 1: Understanding Test-Specific Thinking
Chapter 2: Connecting ELA Item Frames to Academic Content
Chapter 3: Using ELA Item Frames in Classroom Instruction
Chapter 4: Connecting Mathematics Item Frames to Academic Content
Chapter 5: Using Mathematics Item Frames in Classroom Instruction
Chapter 6: Supporting and Integrating the Use of Item Frames
Chapter 7: Leading Item-Frame Usage at the School and District Levels
Epilogue: Pulling Back the Curtain
References and Resources
Index