Beginning this school year, children in grades 3 and 5 will take a new crop of state tests in math and English language arts. Similar exams have been in place for fourth graders for a number of years. The expanded testing in English language arts-covering reading, writing and listening skills-and math for each of the upper elementary grades is designed to show whether children have a firm grasp on the skills they will need to succeed as they move toward middle school, high school and beyond. These tests will also help teachers identify where the curriculum might need to be fine-tuned to better meet students' needs.

Undoubtedly, high school may seem a long way down the road. However, as they move ahead in school, children will be asked to tackle increasingly more challenging coursework. Once they hit high school, students will need to show they have mastered the learning and skills the state requires in order for them to graduate. Success with their elementary school lessons now will help them achieve these goals later on. 

Testing children beginning in the third grade is one way of ensuring that students are learning their daily lessons well. Such tests are carefully designed to reflect the types of information and skills that children are expected to learn at their grade levels. Although students will be given opportunities throughout the year to become familiar with the format of these tests, the school year will not be spent drilling for these exams.

When taking the state tests, children will be drawing on what they know from their day-to-day lessons. For this reason, at-home studying isn't necessary or recommended.

If your children seem nervous about the tests, offer words of encouragement. Practice a few stress-relieving exercises together such as deep breathing or shoulder shrugs. If they don't seem to be taking the tests seriously, let them know you view the tests as important tools for showing that they are learning well. Let your children know that you have confidence in them and that you will be proud of their results as long as they put forth their best effort.

As the test day approaches, see to it that your children:

• get a good night's sleep
• eat a healthy breakfast and take a wholesome snack to school
• dress comfortably
• are on time to school
• have all the necessary materials (pencils, erasers, etc.) [top]

The English language arts (ELA) tests

The English language arts tests are administered in two sessions for students in grades 3 and 5 and three sessions in grade 4. These exams are designed to measure students' abilities in reading, listening, and writing. The tests contain a variety of questions including multiple choice, short- and extended-response and editing tasks.

Reading

In the reading section, students read several passages. These may include short stories, folk tales, poetry, excerpts from biographies or other types of informational writing. For each passage, students will answer questions that demonstrate how well they understand what they've read.

Listening

For this portion of the test, students will listen to a passage and be expected to take notes in order to answer questions to demonstrate how well they understand what they heard. The listening section of the tests in grades 3 and 4 contain literary passages similar in content and vocabulary to the materials they read and hear in the classroom each day. The listening section for students in grade 5 contains informational passages.

Writing

In the writing section of the test, children will be asked to make corrections to a paragraph containing errors in capitalization and punctuation (grade three) or in capitalization, punctuation, grammar and usage (grade five). Before tackling this editing task on their own during the exam, students will practice an editing task with their teachers (see below) to make sure they understand how to complete this part of the test. Students in grade 4 will answer two extended-response questions, one in the reading section and one in the listening section. Their answers will be evaluated for their writing skills, as well as reading comprehension.

Sample editing task (grade 3)
"There are some mistakes in this paragraph in capital letters and punctuation. Let's correct them together."

My red bicycle is my favorite toy. It used to belong to my big sister Katie. She gave it to me. I ride it after School each day. I like my bicycle because it is my favorite color. Do you have a favorite toy.

Sample reading/writing question (grade 4)
After reading "The View from a Hot-Air Balloon" by Ben Sutter students will answer questions, such as:

Which of these would be another good title for the article?
A. How to Draw a Map
B. Making Sense of Maps
C. States, Countries, and Oceans
D. Airplanes, Balloons and Birds

Explain what the title of the article means. Use details from the article to support your answer.

The mathematics tests

Each of the math tests in grades 3 and 5 is administered in two sessions. Fourth graders will take three sessions of tests. The first session will include multiple-choice questions only. The second session-as well as the third session in grade 4-will consist of short- and extended-response questions.
Here are two samples:

Sample multiple choice (grade 3)
Sam and Jenna have been saving pennies. Sam has 232 pennies, and Jenna has 151 pennies. How many more pennies does Sam have than Jenna?

A. 71
B. 81
C. 121
D. 181

Sample short answer (grade 5)
Students will study a line graph that shows a month's worth of recorded times of sunrise in Albany, New York and then answer the following:

A. At approximately what time did the sun rise on April 1?
B. On which date did the sun rise at 6:30 A.M.?
C. Based on the graph, describe the change in the time the sun rises during the first three months of the year. [top]