The dirty words "Test Prep"

I've been training for a 1/2 Marathon for this June and as the race date quickly approaches I've been thinking of the parallels of our students getting ready for the annual end-of-the-year assessments. Here are some parallels that would help our students approach the testing with confidence and peace of mind.

1. The day of the race should be a day of celebration because of all of the training that has been put in preparing for the big day.
2. Gradual improvement day after day will result in substantial growth over the course of a year.
3. Pep rallies and slogans are not nearly as effective as disciplined practice and engaged learning every day.
4. Your results on the assessment will be a direct result of the efforts that you expanded during the course of the year (training period) and not the tricks you learned for race day.

Our most productive endeavor is planning the daily instructional routines that will build our students knowledge and skills over the course of a year to give them the confidence to step up to that starting line on test day with confidence and enthusiasm to show what they have learned.