Salt Lake Tribune April 16, 2008

HEADLINE: Kids, it's time to play: Raise your test score

By Lisa Schencker

MIDVALE - Students jumped to their feet to root for classmates and bounced with anticipation to see who would win at a recent Copperview Elementary School assembly.

Despite appearances, the assembly had nothing to do with sports or awards. Students competed in a mock game show to motivate them for something much more serious - Criterion Referenced Tests, the annual exams Utah students take shortly before the end of each school year.

It's a strategy schools in Utah and nationwide are increasingly employing to excite students for state tests, which the federal government uses to gauge schools' progress and, sometimes, to sanction them as part of No Child Left Behind. They're high stakes tests that often mean little to students because results aren't revealed until months after school ends, and the students' scores don't affect their grades.

"We've found that some of the kids just don't see the importance of the test," Copperview Principal Brent Shaw said. "They mean nothing to them. But they mean everything to us." That's why schools such as Copperview have turned to assemblies and prizes to pump kids up for state tests. Copperview invited Corbin White, who travels the country hosting assemblies, to put on a mock game show with academic questions. White said his company hosts academic game-show assemblies at schools throughout Utah as Criterion Referenced Tests approach each year.

But before the lights started twirling, before students could race to the buzzer and before anyone could claim one of the candy-colored prizes in front of the stage, Assistant Principal Patrick Flanagan issued a reminder about the tests a month away.

"This is an opportunity for us to demonstrate how much we've grown in the past year," Flanagan said. "It's an opportunity to celebrate how far we have come in this journey."

Then he promised the elementary students he and Shaw would shave their heads if they did well on the tests. The nearly 200 elementary students started shouting, "Shave your head! Shave your head!"

"I will have probably the top performer in every grade level come up and help give that haircut," Flanagan added before the game show began.  

Getting creative: Schools have long held awards assemblies and sports pep rallies, but since NCLB became law, schools have felt pressure like never before to perform well on standardized tests and are increasingly using assemblies and rewards to do so.

"I think people are trying to think more creatively than they used to," said Stanley Rabinowitz, director of assessment and standards development services for WestEd, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and service agency that works in education.

Rabinowitz said schools nationwide are accepting that they have to motivate students to do well on state tests. Educators in states such as California, Connecticut and New Mexico, among others, are assembling students to get them psyched for state tests. Utah is no exception.

"It's much more critical. There's more pressure," said Jane Lindsay, principal at Magna's Pleasant Green Elementary School.

"We have tried to [give them] something that's important to them, rewards, so they do their very best."

Pleasant Green doesn't do the game-show assembly, but Lindsay has set up her own assembly and reward system.

Lindsay said she held the first assembly a couple of weeks ago.

Students use "Panther Mastery Cards" to earn points for trying their best on tests and arriving at school on time. At the assembly, staff displayed all the prizes for which students could cash in their points. Lindsay jumped rope and threw basketballs into the crowd. She said she'll likely hold another assembly soon.

"What I like to do is get them stirred up about a month before and then get them stirred up again right before [the tests]," Lindsay said. "Half the game is motivation."

It's a game Pleasant Green can't afford to lose. If the school doesn't meet testing goals this year, it will face federal sanctions next school year, including having to offer to bus children to better performing schools. NCLB requires states to test students each year to make sure they're progressing toward the law's ultimate goal: that all children read and do math on grade level by 2014.

The school's been working to improve instruction all year to meet this year's goals. Assemblies and prizes are the finishing touch, Lindsay said.



Making them care: Columbia Elementary School in West Jordan doesn't have to worry about facing sanctions if it misses its testing goals. Only schools that accept federal dollars for serving low-income areas can face sanctions.

Still, Columbia Principal Barry Hansen feels the pressure.

"I see that 'no' and it's like being slugged in the gut," Hansen said of learning his school didn't meet testing goals last school year. "That's the way I feel after working so hard and it coming down to a 'ye s' or a 'no' . . . I have to answer to my community."

That's why the school is focusing on both instruction and motivation. He holds what he calls a "principal's pep talk" for students in grades two through six.

"We talk about how important it is, No. 1, to represent themselves and their families well and, two, to represent their school well," Hansen said.

Hansen also gives students who score well a certificate of achievement and a gold-colored dollar coin. On test days, he asks students to dress nicely so they understand the importance of the day.

"We've practiced, we've studied, we've done all the necessary preparations," Hansen said, "but that doesn't do you any good if they don't care."



Sending the message: Rabinowitz said such assemblies are nothing new. He said 20 years ago schools were holding achievement assemblies, too. It's just that now they're more common, and the pressure is on. They range in intensity from the principal having a chat with students to a full-blown light and music show with skits and songs about test taking.

Rabinowitz said the important thing is for educators to convey the message all year, not just during one assembly.

"You can't just put this together the night before and invite kids," Rabinowitz said. "This needs to fit into a broader strategy of test preparation."

Copperview parent Jimmy Keithley said he believes the assemblies are a positive effort.

"If their test scores go up, that's great," Keithley said. "I know they do assemblies for fundraisers, and things like that seem to get kids excited."

Copperview parent Karen Bulkley said the assemblies might help students feel less nervous about the tests.

"I think it's good," Bulkley said above the sound of her kindergartner son Andrew who was excitedly describing the game show. "It's good to start young."

Though some might think the assemblies are a symptom of schools focusing too much on testing, Rabinowitz said the assemblies aren't just about testing. They're about achievement, he said.

"Is this any less important than a football game?" Rabinowitz asked.