Tests: Ability or Stamina?
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It's that time of year when many schools throughout the nation are implementing tests in grades K-12 designed to determine whether or not students are meeting state academic performance expectations. In many states, promotion of the students will be linked to their performance on the exam.
We were recently chatting with Diane, a friend and literacy coach in Sarasota, Florida about her experience with their state exam. She mentioned that she and her colleagues have noticed that children's scores often seem less about ability and more about the stamina they bring to the table. Students who have not developed the stamina to read longer and stronger will certainly struggle when asked to read and respond to their reading for 50 minutes at a time.