Testing

Students reflect on their feelings about standardized tests - and consider strategies to handle stress.

These strategies, from bringing plants into the classroom to mindful breathing, can help us and our students cope with the pressures of testing season.  

This is Tip 1 of our 3-part end-of-year care package. See Tip 2 and Tip 3. 

In this interactive lesson, students learn more about the high-stakes testing debate, explore different points of view about this issue, consider their own views, and identify actions they can take to address their concerns about high-stakes testing.

Using a Circle process, students learn a little about high-stakes testing, hear about how these tests have raised stress levels for some students and educators, and consider some steps they might take to lower any stress they are experiencing.

Students learn about the Seattle teachers’ boycott of high-stakes tests and the larger testing issue, and consider a range of opinions about the effect of current high-stakes testing on teachers, students, and our education system.