Ethical Testing Consulting Services

The mere mention of the word "test" creates stress and anxiety for many students. And in our age of accountability and the added emphasis student testing is getting, the anxiety and stress formerly felt by students have now gripped teachers and administrators.

To these factors a new federal law -- "No Child Left Behind" -- has been added; so now students, teachers, and administrators are feeling additional pressures. Often there is not enough available time, and so much more to accomplish in a school year, that test preparation becomes an exercise in memorizing without understanding.

The Solution is two-fold:

1. We simply must teach concepts that will sustain students far beyond the "No Child Left Behind" legislation.
   
2. We simply must teach children how to take tests ethically and efficiently.

Ethical and efficient test-taking and test-making ensure good outcomes for your students.

In 1980, Dorothy Butler completed research at the Hilcrest Elementary School in Brookings, South Dakota. The findings indicated that six weeks of preparation and practice resulted in gains in all nine areas of the Iowa Skills Basic Tests. (Click Here to read the Dissertation Abstract.)

As a result of these findings, Dr. Butler has developed instuctional materials which assist teachers in the integration of test-taking skills into the daily curriculum.

In the VersaTiles^® Test-taking Skills Lab, Dr. Butler provides students practice in the testing behaviors discovered in her research. The lab is designed to strengthen student's test-taking confidence; familiarize students with basic test-formats and test-taking skills; and reduce test anxiety so students can demonstrate their knowledge and perform their best when it really counts.

Test Taking Skills Improve Test Scores

Each year millions of standardized tests are administered to students in the nation's public and private elementary and secondary schools.  The stated objective is to determine how well the examinees are learning "the basic skills."

In addition to the "basic skills," students need a special set of skills -- those required for efficient, ethical test performance.  Some students teach themselves to be good test-takers, while others need help in developing the test taking behaviors required to:

• Adjust to the physical testing conditions.
• Follow group directions.
• Manage time effectively.
• Follow complicated test directions.
• Use line numbers to find answers.
• Use a multiple choice format.
• Decide upon appropriate test-taking strategies.
• Scan passages for information.
• Reason from the facts which have been given.
• Select the best answer.
• Keep track of answers which have been marked on a separate sheet.
• Maintain a silent, sustained effort under stress producing conditions.

Ethical Testing Consulting by Dorothy Butler

Ethical Testing consulting assists administrators, teachers in the area of ethical and efficient test taking.

For more information about research-based individual student, classroom, teacher or administrative workshops on ethical testing, please Contact Us today.

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Learning Options and Ethical Testing
306 4th Street, Suite F, Brookings, SD 57006
Telephone: (605) 692-5249