Studying and Learning in a High-Stakes World: Making Tests Work for Teachers

Designed to help middle and high school teachers, as well as students new to the rigor of college, Studying and Learning in a High Stakes World incorporates test preparation into classrooms without asking teachers to “teach to the test.” Instead, it enables teachers to focus on course content while simultaneously providing high quality, scaffolded study strategies. Whether they are facing a high stakes exam, or merely preparing students for a chapter quiz, the strategies modeled in this book allow teachers to “use” tests as platforms for students’ learning. This book is divided into three parts that address how to: •Get students organized and in the right frame of mind to study, learn, and take tests •Study for essay and objective tests •Answer essay and objective questions and take tests Studying and Learning features close learning strategies, ESL Best Practices, and alignment to the Common Core State Standards in order to help teachers make tests work for them.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Doing Better in Schools Introduction Chapter 1: How to avoid test panic Chapter 2: How to develop a game plan Part II: Preparing for all tests Chapter 3: Strategies for test study Chapter 4: Preparing for essay questions and tests Chapter 5: Preparing for objective questions and tests Part III: Taking Tests and Doing Better Chapter 6: Getting it together on test day Chapter 7: Taking the essay test Chapter 8: Taking the objective test Using Test Results to Inform Learning Making Tests Work for Teachers References Appendix A: Answer to Test Prep Exercises Appendix B: Reproducible Forms for Test Preparation and Study Appendix C: Common Core State Standards Alignment to Studying and Learning (Table) Appendix D: Glossary

About the Author :
Rona F. Flippo has taught in public schools and worked extensively with teachers at all grade levels. She is Professor of Education, Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and is also on the International Reading Association Board of Directors 2012-2015. Rachel Gaines, a former middle school English teacher, is a Ph.D. student in Educational Psychology at University of Texas Austin, where she also teaches writing at the business school. She has published research on middle school writing. Kathrine Crane Rockwell has worked as a Sheltered English Immersion teacher and an ESL interventionist in elementary and middle schools. She has published assessments developed for ELL students. Kelly Cook teaches high school English and serves as department chair in her district. Previously, she supervised the writing lab at Mass Bay Community College. Donna Marco Meliais a middle school English/language arts teacher who has designed multiple curriculum units and assessments based on the Common Core State Standards.

Review :
If you want to help your students help themselves on this game we call testing, this is the book for you—and your students. The Common Core Standards emerged in 2010, and the test consortia began business shortly after. Four years have elapsed, and it is clear that (1) test-based accountability remains a major force affecting public schools, and (2) end-of-year summative tests will become the primary index for accountability beginning in June 2015. These tests will be standardized. Students will work alone, with limited time and no access to resources, and they will, for the most part, fill in bubbles. Yet, the Common Core Standards are not about testing, but about preparing students for college and careers and the world ahead. However, the tests are a reality, and Studying and learning provides teachers and students with the strategies needed to deal with this reality. This book covers the entire territory. It directly addresses the challenges of panic, anxiety, frustration, and distraction. And while it speaks about “test preparation,” it presents tests not as the primary goal of schooling, but as problems to be “researched” much like any other project. The modern world is full of tests, and this book is true to the claim that “it should prepare your students for any test they need to take and help them do better in school” (Preface). I have always been concerned that high stakes testing has particularly negative consequences for minorities and the poor. Rona Flippo’s book, Studying and Learning in a High Stakes World, addresses that concern effectively. The book can be used to help any student from any background improve their studying and learning and become more successful in middle school, high school, and college. While the high stakes testing movement meanders through more and more state legislatures, this book provides the perfect response to this movement – accept the tests where they are, and do a better job of preparing students to learn needed content curricula. Studying and Learning can help students to prevail in the maze of learning tasks and tests that measure them. Rona Flippo’s Studying and Learning in a High Stakes World: Making Tests Work for Teachers will be the essentialbook for teachers of middle and high school students. It should resonate as well with those who teach developmental reading and study skills at community colleges and universities. The unique presentation of material in this book allows it to also be of great use to students who want to increase their independence as learners and prepare better — and with less anxiety — for exams. The close ties, that Flippo develops as part of close learning, which are drawn between literacy, learning, studying, and test-taking are a hallmark of the volume. The smart tie-ins to the Common Core Standards and to English Language Learners (ELLs) are other featured highlights. In sum, you won’t find a better book covering the terrain that is captured so well by Flippo inside these covers. For better or for worse, the accountability movement of the past two decades has created a high stakes testing environment unparalleled in education. Rona Flippo’s latest book confronts the realities of a high stakes world in today’s classrooms and is one of the most practical and comprehensive resources on how to succeed in a variety of test-taking situations. This book is written by teachers for teachers and reminds us that studying, learning, and test-taking are interrelated and are an integral part of the teaching-learning process. Successful athletes prepare for events in running, swimming, surfing, and other sports by “projecting” mental images of how they will go about managing the stresses and strategies of a competitive event. By the time the actual competition gets underway, they are ready. Studying and Learning in a High Stakes World provides teachers and students with powerful test preparation and research-based strategies that give them an edge in our high stakes testing environment. With attention to all the elements of successful test preparation including organization, time management, note taking, and memorization strategies, this book is a must for teachers and students. Close learning and preparation strategies advanced in the text provide learners with a game plan for accomplishing their educational goals.