Test-Specific Thinking

"Standardized testing is a widely adopted means of student assessment, but how test questions are structured, or "framed," raises concern about tests' true efficacy in measuring student achievement. Student success on tests subsequently requires intimate understanding of how test questions are designed. In Test-Specific Thinking: Teaching Students to Think the Way Tests Make Them, authors Robert J. Marzano, Bridget Cahill, Jeni Gotto, Brian J. Kosena, Michael J. Lynch, and Lucy Pearson critically examine common test questions from English and mathematics tests and identify common patterns or "frames" that cue certain skills and expected responses. With additional contributions by Cindy Davis, Lindsay Graham, Brenda Martin, and Claudette Trujillo, the authors provide recommended practices, methods, and means by which teachers may implement these structural schemas into their teaching, helping students better prepare for tests and formulate stronger responses to certain question frames. Armed with better understanding of how tests are designed, teachers will increase their students' chances of success with higher achievement scores and greater confidence when approaching and taking standardized exams"--