Wasting money on BlackLine Test Practice Books

Test Preparation stress pushes us to do strange things.

The lure of plopping down your money for BlackLine Master Books to enable our Test Preparation efforts is great.

It is psychologically inviting and mentally comforting to just pick up something that will save you hours of work for only $12.95, or $14.95, or $16.95.

But, this is strange solace.

The reason that these BlackLine Master practice tests fail to drive your Test Preparation success is that the tests never cover what you are teaching.

This causes a break from what you were teaching to what is in the BlackLine practice book. What a "bummer."

Worse, students get the idea (and you don't have to tell them either) that testing is something apart from real learning.

Besides, students know about the stress that teachers are under about "raising test scores." They feel the pressure, too.

So, Test Preparation suffers when you "slap a BlackLine master test practice activity on students because their stress levels jump..."You are testing your students on something that you haven't taught."

So, Test Preparation has to be a "Something else kind of thing" than BlackLine master practice book activities to be successful.

Just what that is, we'll cover in subsequent posting of this blog.

If you have invested in BlackLine master Test Preparation books, don't throw them away. But, be prepared to use them in more useful ways than photocopying class sets and sitting students quietly at their desks for hours while you administer them in "test-like" settings.

You can do better, and we'll reveal how.


Tell your friends and colleagues to join us here at:

Test Preparation

First Day of School: Your Test Preparation is Already Behind!

First Day of School: Your Test Preparation is Already Behind!

You already have a late start for building your Test Preparation strategies.

What? How can you be behind on the first day of school?

Easy! Your Test Preparation planning should have started weeks ago.

When you were decorating your room, office, or teaching space (some of you don't have real rooms), you spent too much time worrying about how the learning environment would look on the outside.

But it is the "inside the head" space of your students, and the inside the bubble sheet circles or ovals that really count in this modern, media-driven test craze.

Spend more time planning your Test Preparation strategies, and less time on decorating. After all, if you have a principal, administrator or supervisor that is "test-scared" for their job; you have to hold a likewise concern for your job.

Start planning your Test Preparation strategy by listing the weeks that you have before the high-stakes test. (These schedules are published already.)

Then, develop a weekly plan for exactly what you will do in your Test Preparation efforts.

Do not "slack off" on this. Write everything down, put these items on your calendar. Create "tickler files." Do anything to ensure that you spend time each day furthering your students testable abilities.

Test Preparation is not a one shot deal. It is an every day affair.

Think of your Test Preparation obligation as something like "doing the dishes."

What happens if you "slack off for a few days" and don't wash the dishes?

Bad smells are bug magnets. And do you want company to visit and see the mess that your kitchen is in? What do the stacks of messy dishes tell about you.

In the same way, failing in your daily Test Preparation chores is like sweeping dirt under the rug.

So get your Test Preparation program in place.

And, be sure to tell your friends and colleagues about this blog.

Test Preparation

NCLB Rachets up Test Preparation Pressure

Practice Test is driven by The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and the is up for renewal.

And while we thing that Test Preparation is important, we don't believe that the NCLB has played a beneficial role in educating our children. In fact, the NCLB has created a negative impact on Practice Test efforts.

Here is what really happens:

* Teachers are pressured by principals, so the curriculum focuses upon the high-stakes test

* Students are bored, so the teacher "puts more pressure on the kids"

* Practice Tests are expensive, so teachers buy "Black Line Master" test books at the teacher supply store

* The "Black Line Master" books are not related to the curriculum, but students sit for hours practicing these tests to "get test-taking" skills

* Students are restless, so teachers put more pressure on them

* The pressure that teachers put on students concerning the practice tests causes students to associate "TESTS" with "PAIN."

This cycle is all wrong!

In fact Test Preparation should be and can be engaging, fun, exciting, interesting, rewarding and full of solid curricular learning.

What is needed is for teachers to make their own tests for Test Preparation. This is easy with your own templates.

We are developing a new template that is based upon state standards, but you can create your own right now with a word processor.

Then, just copy some curriculum materials into the "selection" area, and fill out the questions.

But, there is one other key to Test Preparation. That is...

Use all sorts of...

* Engaging

* Hands-on

* Individual or Group

* Learning Projects

* Take Home Assignments

* Debates

* Contests

* Games

to Practice Test.

Forcing students to sit quietly and struggle with boring copies of Black Line Master test books is "cruel and unusual punishment," but unfortunately, "business as usual" for an unenlightened Test Preparation effort.

Do Test Preparation the right way, and your students learn.

And you benefit by building a climate for learning in your classroom.


Tell your friends and colleagues to join us here at:

Test Preparation

Practice Test

Test Preparation is not a Waste of Time

Test Preparation does not have to mean stepping out of the K12 curriculum to practice on unrelated materials.

Test Preparation can be done using teacher-made tests that focus upon exactly what you are teaching.

The process is easy, and the opportunities for creative strategies such as group projects, debates, voting on the answers, take-home test, etc.

All you need is a template.

You can find a sample template at:

Test Preparation Template

Employing creative Test Preparation strategies means that your principal will commend your lesson planning.


Tell your friends and colleagues to join us here at:

Test Preparation

Test Prep

Test Preparation (Test Prep) is important to teachers who want to keep their jobs.

Sometimes, this job survival skill is called, "Teaching to the Test."

How can this be bad if it helps you keep your job?

It is really good if taking students through Test Preparation strategies helps you keep your job.

Tell your friends and colleagues to join us here at:

Test Preparation