Schoolwide
 Issue Number 8
January 2010
 
Testing Fundamentals
The four Units of Study noted below are designed to be used during the Reading Workshop portion of a daily literacy block. Each Unit of Study includes three to five explicit whole-group lessons; approximately 15 lessons per grade (2–5).
How It Works
  • Testing Fundamentals systematically teaches the skills and strategies students need to effectively answer questions from the four major question categories appearing on standardized tests. These four categories include:

          - Finding Word Meaning in Context (Vocabulary)
          - Literal Questions (Paying Attention to Detail)
          - Determining Importance (Finding the Main Idea)
          - Inferential Questions (Reading the Unwritten Word)

  • Teachers model reading comprehension strategies by reading and thinking aloud from touchstone texts in a whole-group setting.
  • Students are provided multiple opportunities for both guided and independent practice to reinforce the skills and strategies taught.
  • Lessons explicitly link the reading strategies and skills needed to effectively answer questions presented during test-taking situations, effectively building a bridge between reading instruction and test preparation. In addition to becoming better readers, students learn to become test savvy and to recognize common testing "tricks and traps."

Testing Fundamentals Test Practice Packets

The latest addition to the Testing Fundamentals program is the Test Practice Packet for grades 2–5. Each student Test Practice Packet booklet includes 16 multiple-choice tests. Each test follows the order of the lessons within each Unit of Study in the Testing Fundamentals Whole-Group Instruction set. Fifteen of the tests include a series of passages followed by 10 multiple-choice questions, each of which represent the four major question categories noted. The passages are written across a sampling of different genres, including poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as diverse text formats and structures such as articles, poems, and folktales. The final, or Wrap-Up, test includes a passage followed by 15 random multiple-choice questions representing all four major question categories previously introduced in the Units of Study. Click here for a sample from the grade 5 Test Practice Packet.

  Click here to purchase Testing Fundamentals Test Practice Packets

Contributed By Michelle Wolf & Robin Cohen