Is Your Child STAAR Test-Ready?
Though it’s often hard to remember in the haze of our post-holiday blues, spring is coming and it’ll be here before we know it. And with spring comes a new round of STAAR tests, at least for Texan public school students in grades 3 to 12.
According to the Texas Education Agency, “STAAR tests are designed to measure what students are learning in each grade and whether or not they are ready for the next grade.” For high school students, passing Algebra I, English I, English II, Biology, and US History STAAR assessments is a requirement for graduation. In other words, STAAR assessments are important, and making sure your child is adequately prepared is essential. Here are a few ways to determine if your child is STAAR-ready, and various ways to help them prepare.
Determining your child’s STAAR readiness
Some parents have a pretty good idea about their child’s readiness based on their academic performance thus far, but it’s not abnormal to feel completely unsure. Whether you’re feeling panicked that your child is woefully unprepared or you’re simply looking for ways to support your child through these assessments, there are a few things you can do.
Meet with their teachers.
No one knows your child’s strengths and weaknesses better than the educators who spend all day with them. Schedule a meeting with your child’s teacher to get more insight into your child’s perceived readiness. Where to they struggle? Where to they excel? In their professional opinion, would additional test prep be beneficial or necessary for your child?
Review grade-level practice questions with your child to gauge their confidence and ability.
You can access practice tests and sample questions here (and a quick Google search turns up even more). Grab several questions from each subject area and test your child’s knowledge (in a low-pressure environment!). Are they cruising through the questions with confidence, or are they struggling? Are they finding one subject more difficult than the others? Working through questions similar to the ones they’ll find on their STAAR assessments will help you figure out if they need additional help.
Review your child’s previous test scores and progress.
Access the Texas Education Agency’s Family Portal to view your child’s assessment results from previous years (and to check out their results this year). You can get plenty of invaluable information by seeing how they performed in the past.
Ask them how they’re feeling about the assessments (and school in general).
Your child may let you know if any subject or course is giving them trouble or causing anxiety. Conversely, they may let you know if they feel completely prepared and confident heading into the STAAR assessments. While some students are more tight-lipped about this stuff (or slightly naive about their preparedness) this is a helpful conversation to have.
Helping your child prepare for STAAR assessments
Take advantage of online practice tests.
Practice makes perfect! Carve out some time to work on practice tests and questions together so that your child knows what to expect come test time. This is a great way to review material and check understanding across the various subjects.
Focus on their areas of weakness.
If you’ve identified an area where your child seems to be struggling, focus on that. If they’ve consistently scored well on one subject, you probably don’t need to spend your valuable time working on it.
Study in short bursts.
Rather than spending hours studying, spread out their studying into shorter chunks over time. Not only does this help them retain things to memory, it works better for shorter attention spans.
Help them learn to make educated guesses.
Don’t underestimate the fact that educated guessing is a skill to be learned. Teach your child how to use process of elimination to improve their chances of answering correctly on a question that stumps them.
Provide encouragement and support.
These tests can be anxiety-provoking, and if they sense that you’re stressed and nervous, they’ll feel the added pressure. Offer consistent encouragement and support to your child, and remind them that test scores don’t affect their worth as your child and as a human being.
Enlisting the experts
These assessments can feel intimidating for students and parents alike. If you don’t feel equipped, capable, or confident in helping your child prepare, you’re not alone! Conveniently located in Towne Lake, The Enrichery’s academic coaches are experts in all things test prep, from identifying areas for improvement to providing your child will tailored strategies for the big day. Contact The Enrichery today and they get your child set up with their best fit coach, collaborate on all things goals and scheduling, and start meeting weekly. You’re already well aware that your child is a STAR, and The Enrichery is here to help them prove it!
Contributed Content Provided by The Enrichery
