Beating the butterflies

A FRIEND OF MINE recently had to take a driving test upon her move to another state. Although she had been driving for more than 10 years, when she arrived at the testing center, she noticed that her heart was pounding and her hands were sweaty. She was suffering from a textbook case of test anxiety. While some anxiety actually is good for the test-taker, too much can be detrimental to performance. Alas, my friend failed the test.

If the prospect of taking a driving test is enough to make you bite your nails, imagine the task facing Laila, a fourth-grade student in New York City. Having taken two statewide standardized tests last year, she now faces exams in English, Math, and Science--and next year has to sit for a Social Studies exam as well. Only three years ago, Laila would have had to take only two tests in fourth and eighth grades. Today, English and Math exams are administered to students in grades three through eight and, additionally, a Social Studies test is administered in fifth and eighth grades. Where the older tests used to have multiple choice questions only, each of today's tests requires students to write essays.

Is it any wonder that test anxiety is on the rise? According to a study conducted by the Institute of HeartMath, 61% of students report being affected by test anxiety. Twenty-six percent say they are experiencing high levels often or most of the time. The same study suggests that students with high levels score an average of 15 points lower on standardized English and Math exams than those with low anxiety. With so much emphasis being placed on standardized tests, the ultimate goal of student achievement may be at risk.

Signed into law by Pres. George W. Bush in 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act reauthorized 1965's Elementary and Second Education Act. NCLB mandates massive state administered standardized testing. The reality is that students are bombarded with the importance and significance of standardized tests starting on the first day of school in September. Test prep takes over classroom lessons and little time is left for read alouds, art projects, field trips, and other enrichment activities. Students are threatened with the prospect of summer school, repeating a year, or the cancellation of a summer holiday if they do not pass the tests. The stress is great and manifests itself physically. Stomachaches and headaches are not infrequent occurrences. In school, numerous trips to the bathroom, dropped pencils, and outbursts are common. When test day is over, school communities only have time for a quick sigh of refief before they need to start preparing for the next exam.

At Partnership with Children, we recognize that the weeks leading up to standardized tests can be incredibly stressful and have implemented a series of coping strategies for kids. We call it Taming the Test Monster, which originally was designed for elementary school students, but can be adapted for children of all ages. Children are asked to personify their fears and anxieties about taking a test by writing or drawing their feelings on a template of a monster. Students have drawn red eyes, purple tongues, and dark green fangs on their monsters. Laila drew a butterfly in its stomach. After students share their feelings and apprehensions about taking the test, we crumple up the test monsters and place them in a secure container. We close the container, wrap it several times with tape, and hide it away. This ritual lets kids know that the test monster, and all of their fears, nerves, and anxiety are locked up and cannot escape. This way, they can concentrate on doing well on the exam.

The Taming the Test Monster curriculum has been so successful that Partnership with Children recently published a guide for parents. It provides easy-to-follow strategies and tools that should help kids and adults function more effectively in their day-to-day lives. These include: analysis of emotions and how to talk about feelings; muscle relaxation and deep breathing exercises; using creativity to develop tangible representation of fears; a daily schedule and routine, including playtime and after-school programs; and tips for helping prepare for test day. For instance, by scrunching up their foreheads, eyes, noses, mouths, and cheeks, parents and their offspring might look silly, but children make the connection between their emotions and their body and are empowered to control any anxiety that they may have on test day or otherwise.

The Taming the Test Monster curriculum 1s only part of Partnership with Children's wider goal of providing social, emotional, and scholastic support to at-risk students. A study by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning found that taking the time to teach students how to manage their emotions and to experience caring, cooperation, and empathy results in higher academic achievement. This has been the case with Partnership with Children's school-based Open Heart-Open Mind initiative. Our annual evaluations consistently highlight the fact that children receiving our core services achieve higher attendance rates and test scores than those who do not.

Standardized tests are here to stay, so keep in mind that teaching kids how to manage and respond to their feelings is just as important as teaching them the A-B-C's and 1-2-3's. Without social and emotional support during test time--and throughout the school year--we run the risk of raising a generation of children that will become overwhelmed by every challenge it faces.

Michelle Sidrane is executive director for Partnership with Children, New York, a not-for-profit organization that provides emotional and social support for at-risk youngsters.

COPYRIGHT 2008 Society for the Advancement of Education
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning