Rejecting Accommodations

The mother of a high school student with attention and reading difficulties recently asked us what she could do to make her son take advantage of the accommodations provided in his IEP. Since her son's learning and attention issues had been diagnosed in fifth grade, he had an IEP that provided for extended time (1.5 times standard time) and a quiet place to take his exams.

As a practical matter, that meant that when his class was taking a test in class, he went to the school library, where he was placed in a small side room. The librarian kept an eye on him while he took his test and he returned to his classroom when he was finished. He went along with this plan until he reached high school, at which time he announced to his parents that he didn't want to be singled out from his friends and that he was embarrassed to have to leave the class for testing. The more his parents pushed back, the more adamant he became. That's when his mom reached out to us.

We had some questions, the answers to which would help determine what might be appropriate to do or say in this not uncommon situation:

1. Does this student understand why he has been granted extended time and a quiet exam location? Does he understand his learning and attention challenges and how they affect his learning and taking exams? Parents can't expect their students to be comfortable with doing something different than their classmates unless they understand WHY they are doing so.
2. How was he doing in school? Did the extended time, or failure to utilize the extended time, make a difference in his grades? If so, this could have an impact on his GPA and longer term consequences as he moved on from high school. Did he understand that this could limit his college options? Or, did he find that there really wasn't any substantial difference in how he did? If that was the case, as sometimes happens, he would have to think about the next question.
3. Was he planning to take the SAT or ACT exams? These two testing companies do not follow the IDEA. They are required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and avoid discriminating against students with disabilities, but they largely determine whether to grant accommodations based upon what a student had been granted and USED during high school. A student who did not use his accommodations might not get them for these high stakes examinations.

These questions helped this family sit down and discuss this issue. His parents shared his most recent testing that supported the need for accommodations, and showed their son how his reading rate improved when the evaluator gave him extra time to complete reading tests. They discussed his plans to attend a competitive  college and looked at the GPA that that particular college required. Eventually, they agreed that the student would forgo his accommodations for two or three months and see how things went. They advised his teachers of this decision, emphasizing that it did not mean that he was declining his extended time. He found that his grades did drop a bit during this period and ultimately he decided that he wanted to continue to use his accommodations. Since the decision was his, it was one that he adhered to. Last we heard, he was using his extended time and quiet location and doing well in school. 

Important SAT and ACT Changes on Accommodations

The College Board has announced important changes to they way they determine testing accommodations for students with disabilities, effective January 1, 2017.

The new policy will apply to students who have IEPs or 504 Plans and to private school students with a formal, school-based plan. It requires school testing accommodation coordinators to ask only two questions when submitting most requests for student accommodations:

• Is the requested accommodation(s) in the student’s plan? and
• Has the student used the accommodation(s) for school testing?

If the answer is yes to both questions, eligible students can be approved to receive most accommodations on College Board exams. These exams include the SAT, PSAT, NMSQT, SAT subject tests and AP exams.

The College Board president, David Coleman, noted in an announcement of this change that, “The school staff knows their students best, and we want to cut down on the time and paperwork needed to submit a testing accommodations request.” That may be true, but steps by the U.S. Department of Justice to make sure the testing organizations comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act were undoubtedly also a factor in the College Board decision. We wrote about this back in 2015, including links to the Justice Department guidelines. Earlier in 2016, the Justice Department began an inquiry into testing accommodations following a number of complaints. 

Another policy change by both the College Board and the ACT exam involves students who are English Language Learners (ELL). 

For the first time, the ACT exam will offer accommodations to ELL who are enrolled in a school's ELL program, starting in the fall of 2017. These will include:

• More time on the test: up to time-and-a-half
• Use of an approved word-to-word bilingual glossary (one that has no word definitions)
• Testing in a non-distracting environment (i.e., in a separate room)
• Test instructions provided in the student's native language (including Spanish and a limited number of other languages initially)

Similar accommodations will be made available effective starting in January 2017 (although extended time will not be available until later that year) by the College Board for its exams given to enrolled ELL students taking state funded exams in school. 

Tips for Students

Students, parents, and schools need to keep in mind that these new paths to accommodations are not foolproof. The College Board uses terms like "most" when referring to students with disabilities and the accommodations to be extended. 

Furthermore, as with their prior process for approving accommodations, it is important that these are not just listed in an IEP or 504 Plan, but are used on a regular basis. Students who have extended time on exams, for example, need to utilize this accommodation if they want to have it applied to their standardized testing. 

To be applicable to the SAT and other exams, accommodations must be formalized. An IEP or 504 Plan will do this. So will a private school's formal written plan. But extended time or other accommodations given informally by teachers or even school-wide without a formal plan will not qualify for this streamlined review. 

Likewise, the accommodations offered to ELL do not necessarily apply to all of these students. The College Board will extend its streamlined accommodations process only to ELL taking a state-funded SAT during the school day. It is not clear how this might apply to all ELL. 

Changes to LSAT Accommodations

Back in May 2014, we wrote about a Consent Decree from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, which changed the rules for individuals with disabilities seeking accommodations to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). The Consent Decree provided for the  Law School Admission Council (LSAC) to pay $7.73 million in penalties and damages to compensate over 6,000 individuals nationwide who applied for testing accommodations on the LSAT over the preceding five years. The decree also required comprehensive reforms to LSAC’s policies and ended its practice of “flagging” LSAT score reports for test takers with disabilities who receive extended time as an accommodation. The Consent Decree provided that a panel of experts selected by the parties to the lawsuit which resulted in the Consent Decree would determine how to change procedures for accommodations under the LSAT to comply with state and federal law.

The Consent Decree gave the parties the right to appeal to the District Court if the decisions of the panel of experts "are believed to violate the ADA or its implementing regulations, or California law where applicable, or to conflict with the provisions of [the Consent] Decree."

The LSAC did appeal to the Court, which upheld a few of its objections but, in a 44 page decision, rejected most of them and upheld almost all the changes to LSAC's testing accommodation procedures recommended in the experts' report.

Of crucial importance to anyone seeking accommodations to take the LSAT, the Justice Department notes that  LSAC will implement the upheld recommendations starting immediately for testing accommodation requests related to the December 2015 LSAT administration and later administrations. Anyone even considering taking the LSAT and applying for accommodations needs to read the full decision and the other documents linked above regarding this important change in policy.

Thanks to our colleague Jonathan Corchnoy, Esq. for bringing this decision to our attention.

photo credit: Tracie Hall via Flickr

Digital Assessment Tools

Assessment is a large, important, and oft-debated necessity in education. The traditional view of assessment hinged strongly on summative evaluations -  assessments after the fact, such as a comprehensive exam or final paper. However, the current best practice in evaluating learning is to deploy frequent and thoughtful formative assessments, where teachers build in "check-in points" during the learning process that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. The goal of this evaluation framework is to inform the educator of what specific needs are present in their students and whether they need to augment their future lessons in response to those needs. It is important to note that the post-evaluation reflection and intervention is the defining feature of a formative assessment. Measuring student performance or collecting data is not formative unless you use the information to help your students.

In today’s classrooms there are a variety of tools to help teachers integrate formative assessments into their curriculum, as well as to gather and organize the data these assessments generate. Some of my favorite tools are discussed below:

Socrative

Socrative describes itself as a digital assessment tool that uses "real time questioning, instant result aggregation and visualization, [so that] teachers can gauge the whole class’ current level of understanding." One strong merit of this application is its flexibility, in that it can be used on multiple platforms, including smartphones, tablets and computers. Furthermore, it allows for personalization and differentiation of the learning process by allowing teachers to create their own assessments based on the specific needs of their students.

Formative

Formative is an exceptional tool to help teachers devise and distribute engaging assessments. The evaluation process is simple with Formative. Within the app a teacher is able to create an assessment, distribute it to students and respond with real time feedback. Formative is also aligned with the principle of Universal Design for Learning that calls for students to be allowed to display their knowledge in multiple ways. Thus, formative allows students to respond to assessment prompts by writing, drawing, or by submitting pictures. Furthermore, Formative is aligned with Common Core and NGSS, and also helps teachers in their pursuit of a paperless classroom.


Exit Ticket

Exit Ticket is a tool that allows teachers to create formative assessment measures, administer them during class periods, and glean real time data about student performance. The types of evaluation tasks a teacher can create are organized into pre-assessments, checks for understanding, tasks to promote discussion, and mid-way checkpoints. Once a student completes an assessment, both the student and the teacher will receive real time data on the student’s understanding of the concepts being taught. Furthermore, Exit Ticket also allows teachers to differentiate their assessments to meet the diverse needs of their student population. For example, using the Groups add-on, teachers can provide special accommodations to sections of their class. When authoring a list of questions, the teacher is able to then customize what questions each group will see.

The Numbers Game: Standardized Testing and Student Ability

Unless you happen to be particularly interested in educational policy in the state of Texas, it's likely that you missed news of a legislative hearing that took place in Austin in June 2012. The Texas House Public Education Committee had met to interview experts about the relationship between learning and standardized testing. Although Texas had injected new rigor into its state-wide tests, student achievement wasn't improving and the committee wanted to know why.

Dr. Walter Stroup, a tenured professor at the University of Texas, was one of those experts. When his turn came, he spoke about what standardized tests do and what they don't do. His research, he said, indicated that tests don't measure what the test-taker has learned. They measure how good the test-taker is at taking tests.

This was a controversial statement (particularly to an organization that had invested tens of millions of dollars on the tests in question), and Stroup's testimony launched a complicated series of events. A recent, lengthy article in the Texas Observer provides detailed information about the fallout, which is ongoing. But regardless of how things continue to play out in Texas, Stroup's perspective on testing reflects, in many ways, our perspective on assessment at the Yellin Center.

Assessments are the cornerstone of our work, and assessments include numbers. But, as each of the students and families with whom we work has no doubt heard Dr. Yellin say, "We're not big numbers people." This perspective is evident in our reports. We don't put the tables of scores front and center; instead, they appear in the back of the report. This format is deliberate. We don't present scores first because our reports are written to capture our authentic, three-dimensional impressions of a student and her mind, and numbers often fail to tell the whole story.

In fact, sometimes numbers tell a story that can be misleading. This can happen for myriad reasons, but here is one example: If a student has an expressive language disability, she'll have difficulty expressing her ideas. She is unlikely to be able to communicate the complexity of her thoughts and cognitive processes using language. But if she is given a full-scale IQ measure, she'll have to use words and sentences to respond to much of the test content. Her overall score is likely to be low because even if she is able to think of the right answers, she may not be able to articulate them. Her oral and written output will not reflect the intricacy of her mind. Simply reporting a low IQ score obtained with such measures for this student without putting this score in the context of her expressive language difficulties would do her an injustice.

We see this kind of scenario frequently at the Yellin Center. Parents will bring us their student and explain that the standardized test scores they've seen just don't fit the child they know. And so, we set to work. It's true that many of the measures a student completes during an assessment at the Yellin Center are standardized. But our clinicians are equally, if not more, interested in the qualitative information that can be gleaned than in the scores the measure yields. We analyze errors to find patterns, and we ask questions that many assessors may not, so that we can figure out how students attained the right answers and which aspects of tasks gave them difficulty. This approach allows us to view scores as just one piece of the puzzle as we work to determine an accurate, actionable cognitive profile for each student.

As Dr. Stroup suggests, standardized tests serve a purpose, but they shouldn't be used as standalone measures. It's pretty nice when a renowned expert affirms something you've been saying all along.

Looking at Reading Skills of Students with Learning Difficulties

The folks at the Arise Coalition (Action for Reform in Special Education) have done it again -- putting their considerable knowledge and influence behind a movement to improve education for New York City school kids. We've written before about the Arise Coalition, looking at their report on the need to improve transition from high school for students with learning and other challenges.

Now they have undertaken an initiative to address the discrepancy in reading skills between students with disabilities and their classmates. In a note to supporters announcing this initiative, the Coalition noted, "In 2013, only 6% of students with disabilities in New York City met state standards in English, as compared to just over 26% of their peers without disabilities who met those same standards." They observed that even for those opposed to standardized testing, these are disturbing results. This is especially true because similar differences have been seen nationally in Common Core tests given to fourth and eighth graders.

This effort to improve reading skills is just getting underway, but the Coalition has compiled a list of resources for individuals and organizations who want to know more about building literacy in students with learning challenges. It is such a useful list that we are including it here in its entirety, with thanks to the Coalition:

The International Dyslexia Association: http://www.interdys.org/
The Iris Center: http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/
LD Online: http://www.ldonline.org/
National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials: http://aim.cast.org/
National Center for Learning Disabilities: http://ncld.org/
National Center for Special Education Research: http://ies.ed.gov/ncser
National Center on the Use of Emerging Technologies to Improve Literacy Achievement for Students with Disabilities in Middle School: http://www.cast.org/research/projects/udio.html
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/Pages/index.aspx

We were especially pleased to see that two of the resources listed are part of CAST - The Center for Applied Special Technology, where Dr. Yellin is a member of the Board of Directors.

Major Changes to SAT by 2016

In the wake of reports of criticism about the SAT exam (which dropped the name "Scholastic Aptitude Test" years ago in the face of claims that it did not actually measure aptitude for college success), the College Board announced on Wednesday that it will be making a number of changes to the exam. The changes include:

• A return to the 1600-point scale. The overall score will be a composite of 800 possible points for its math and reading sections.

• The end of the mandatory essay. Students may choose to write an essay after completing the reading and math sections if they choose. However, instead of a personal essay in which they express an opinion or describe an experience, students will be asked to analyze a document. The essay will be given a separate score.

• A change to vocabulary words tested. Instead of words some deem esoteric, the College Board says the test will probe student’s knowledge of words that are commonly used in college courses. 

• A shift in math skills tested. The new SAT will focus on three areas: linear equations, complex equations, and ratios/percentages/proportional reasoning. Also, students will be allowed to use calculators for only some portions of the math section.

• Ending the penalty for wrong answers. The current test deducts a quarter of a point for each wrong answer (though there is no penalty for answers left blank). The “guessing penalty” will be removed from the new test.

• Analysis of science and social studies texts as part of the reading and writing section. Additionally, in some cases students will be asked to select not only the right answer, but also the textual quote that supports their answer.

One criticism of the SAT, and standardized testing in general, is that affluent students tend to do better, perhaps because they can afford access to test preparation courses. In hopes of leveling the playing field, the College Board has partnered with the Khan Academy to make practice and instructional materials available free of charge. Low-income students will receive another perquisite as well: Those who qualify will get four waivers that will allow them to apply to four colleges for free.

There is not yet any indication of how these changes will affect students with learning differences.

For more information, please visit the College Board’s webpage dedicated to the changes to the exam. 

Photo Credit: Flickr CC - Jeff Pioquinto, SJ

Testing as a Way to Boost College Achievement

While parents and students throughout the country lament the constant testing of students in elementary and high schools, a new study has found that frequent testing of college students -- each day of class -- boosted achievement of all students, especially those from lower income backgrounds.

Robert S. Donovan

The findings, from a team of psychology professors at the University of Texas at Austin, were published in the online science journal PloS One. The professors were co-instructors of two large introductory psychology classes, with a total of over 900 students. They had taught the same course for several years and thus had data on student performance to compare to the classes in which they implemented the daily testing. Students were advised to bring their laptops to class and were given personalized online quizzes containing eight questions at the beginning of each class, one of which was a question that the student had gotten wrong on a prior quiz. Students could drop their lowest quiz grades and could take a limited number of quizzes outside class. The quizzes included material from both the course lectures and the assigned readings.

The professors found that the students in the classes subject to quizzing did better not just in the introductory psychology course, but in other courses that semester and in courses in subsequent semesters. There was also a significant reduction in the difference in performance between students of higher and lower socioeconomic standing, something that had been notable in prior sections of the course.

The professors noted that the improvements they observed "most plausibly reflect changes in students’ self-regulated learning – their ability to study and learn more effectively." They also noted that attendance was high in the classes where quizzes were given, which would also influence student performance. It stands to reason that when students attend class regularly and do the course reading, that they will learn more and that their performance on tests will be improved. No one likes testing, but it can help keep students -- at least college students -- on track for success.

Use Practice Tests to Prepare for Standardized Tests

Casey Konstantin

If you follow trends in education, chances are you've heard about the importance of practice tests. To sum it up: Exciting research about memory has indicated that the best way to learn something is to take practice tests instead of traditional studying. Many education-centered magazines, newspapers, and blogs have been reporting on this idea and, for related content, you can access other posts we've written about this subject:

• Studying for finals
• Using test taking as a study tool 
• Test taking tips from experts, and
• Effective studying techniques

Sometimes, this is easier said than done. Taking practice tests to prepare for run-of-the-mill, in-class exams--such as a biology midterm written by the teacher--can be tricky, since ready-made practice tests don’t typically exist for tests of this kind; in these cases, we encourage students to make their own practice tests. But students preparing for a standardized test can access pre-made tests through a variety of sources. In the old days, students bought books of practice tests from companies like Kaplan, Barron’s, and The College Board. But increasingly, practice tests are available online, often for free.

The quality of free online practice tests varies, but there are some gems out there. For example, The College Board website offers practice questions for the AP exams and practice questions and a full-length, online practice SAT test. Students preparing for the ACT will find The Princeton Review’s full-length practice test useful. And Varsity Tutors has recently launched a very good “one-stop-shop” practice testing site  with access to practice questions, questions of the day, and sample tests for a multitude of exams, including the SAT, ACT, GRE, GED, ISEE, SSAT, and AP. Many of the tests feature a useful content instruction option that explains how to find the answer to several practice questions and problems; students can start here, then move to the flashcards to practice. As an added bonus, it’s possible to create a free account that will track one’s progress through the content.

Some online practice tests include a timer function. While this is not essential, it can be very helpful as students get a sense of their work pace in anticipation of a timed exam. One feature that is essential, however, is access to thoughtful explanations for correct answers. It’s important that students know more than whether they were right or wrong, and good practice sites will explain why the right answer is the best choice. Very good sites will even explain why the wrong answers are incorrect, tempting though some of them may be.

To make the most out of practice tests, students should keep the following points in mind:

• Make sure the format of your practice test matches the format of the actual test. If you’ll be testing on paper, print out the practice test and take it with a pencil. Signed up for a computer-based test? Taking it on the screen is fine. 
• Take the test under time constraints – at some point. For students who are nervous testers or those first encountering the test format, it may be a good idea to start out with an untimed practice round to test the waters. Students should be sure to take the test at least once under the time constraints they’ll face on the actual test day, though; it’s important that they know whether their natural pace is appropriate, and working under simulated pressure will help them feel more comfortable when taking the real test.
• Make sure practice conditions match test conditions as closely as possible. Don’t curl up on the couch with a laptop to prepare for a computer-based test; sit at a table or desk in a quiet, distraction-free space instead. Have scratch paper ready if the test allows it. Don’t snack or drink while working. It’s important to gain familiarity with testing conditions, not just the test format and content.

NYC Private Schools to End Use of Controversial Admissions Test

We were very pleased to see the announcement in today's New York Times that most private schools in New York City will soon phase out the admissions test many of the City's elite private schools have administered since the 1960's to applicants as young as four years old.

Kevin Jarrett

The Independent Schools Admissions Association of Greater New York (ISAAGNY) advised its approximately 130 members by a letter dated on September 18th that a review of admissions practices for kindergarten and first grade concluded that the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI), which is administered by the nonprofit Educational Records Bureau and is universally referred to by New York parents as the "ERB", indicated that, "high-stakes testing of young children (under 8 years old) provides only a narrow assessment of their cognitive abilities and may not be predictive of future academic success." The group went on to note that, "due to the increased prevalence of test prepping, the results of the WPPSI are tainted and their credibility is in question due to coaching."

Dr. Yellin stated that he was heartened by this announcement and commented, "Today's announcement that private schools are likely to abandon the ERB is a positive development and a change for which we have advocated for some time. The reason stated is that the results have been compromised by widespread coaching and test preparation. The truth, as many educators have expressed to us, is that the system was misguided and flawed from the start. ERB's use portions of IQ tests that were never intended for this purpose. We strongly recommend Dr. Carol Dweck's wonderful book Mindset to provide perspective on this important issue." 

Memory Strategies: Use Music, Mnemonics, and YouTube to Improve Learning

A frequent issue mentioned by students who come to The Yellin Center for help with school is that they can’t remember information they studied when test time rolls around. They often suspect they have memory difficulties, but we frequently find that poor memory is not the problem. Even the strongest memories in the world can’t handle a limitless number of facts; these students are usually in need of better memory strategies. The more strategically they learn information, the easier it will be to “find” when taking exams.

Testing is particularly difficult for medical or law students, or even high school students in chemistry or history classes, because there is so much material to remember. We often recommend that students use mnemonics to help them recall lists of facts. For example, to remember the taxonomy for biology, if students can remember the sentence “King Philip Cuts Open Five Green Snakes,” they’ll have access to the first letter of each of the taxonomic levels in order (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species).

Another way to recall information is to turn it into song lyrics to go with a catchy tune. We think this is a great idea, and we’re not the only ones. A recent news story tells of a young British doctor doing just that to help the staff at his hospital remember to use the asthma treatment guidelines when treating wheezing patients. When traditional reminders weren't working, Dr. Tapas Mukherjee made a YouTube video  in which he sang his new asthma-related lyrics to the tune of Deep Blue Something’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and crossed his fingers. Within two months, doctors at his hospital reported that they all knew the guidelines. More importantly, they performed much better on measures that tested their knowledge of specifics. For his efforts, Dr. Mukherjee won the British Thoracic Society Innovation in Education Award in 2012 and the National Health Service Expo/Network Casebook II Innovation Award this year.

There are plenty of other great examples of students using song to help get troublesome facts to stick. One is a video made by Canadian medical students. (Those unfamiliar with second-degree AV block, a disorder that causes irregular heartbeat, may find it a little tough to follow but will still get the idea). Another winner is “This is Why We Clot,” described on the page as “Drug Life’s hot new single about the use of anticoagulants.” To see a model of how this tactic could work with younger children, watch the silly “Place Value Song” from Teacher Tipster  below to see how Mr. Smith uses a song to help his youngsters learn how to grasp the concept of tens and ones.



The most memorable study song, of course, is the one a student invents himself. So next time your student has to learn a list of prepositions, recall a series of events, or perform a multi-step procedure, help him turn the information into a song. Teachers can try this out in the classroom by putting students in groups; finished songs can be recorded and played or performed live for the class. Turn studying into a rockin’ good time!

An Experiment in Being "Test Flexible"

We've written before about the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, usually referred to as Fairtest. Fairtest's website includes lists of colleges that are SAT/ACT optional and can be a helpful resource for students who believe that their scores on these exams don't reflect their real abilities.

Brandeis University in Massachusetts, one of the schools on the Fairtest list, has taken an interesting approach to what they call being "test flexible". As described by the University, students applying to Brandeis can choose to submit a combination of scores in subject tests, or an academic portfolio that includes a sample of analytical writing and an additional teacher evaluation. However, even students who don't submit traditional SAT/ACT tests will be asked for these scores after they matriculate. After two years, the Brandeis Senate will decide, based upon the success of the text flexible admitted students, whether to change, expand, or eliminate this program.

Brandeis University, by Hannah Rosen

Andrew Flagel, who heads up student enrollment at the school, is quoted in a Brandeis newsletter as noting, “This is an evolutionary change, since we already strive to de-emphasize the role of standardized tests in our admissions decisions through the careful evaluation of high school program and grades, recommendation letters, interview reports, and other ‘non-cognitive’ factors.” He further noted that this research based approach to test flexible admissions allows the University to maintain its high academic standards while giving students control over how their application will be evaluated. 

We will be interested to see how this experiment in having students decide how to best "package" themselves for admission will turn out. 

Tips for Test-Day Success

Djenan Kozic

Studying for an exam in the weeks and days before test day is a critical skill needed for successfully completing academic courses. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out our last post about test preparation. But preparation for a test means more than just studying. Students need to prepare so that they are physically alert and ready to work on test day, and they should have some strategies in mind for taking the test and dealing with pre-test jitters. Here are some of our best ideas to help ensure that a student’s hard work studying translates to a successful test:

• Take care of your brain. To work well, your brain needs to be well rested. Be sure to get a full night’s sleep before the test; staying up late and cramming at that point probably isn’t going to help anyway. We think you should eat breakfast every morning, and it’s particularly important to fuel your brain on test day. Eat something similar to what you’re used to eating. If you usually have a banana and some toast, don’t sit down to a six-egg omelet, which may make you feel overly full and sleepy.

• Have strategies for dealing with test anxiety. Some ideas include talking or journaling about your worries, reminding yourself of all the work you’ve done to prepare, doing physical activity before the test, trying some deep breathing or muscle relaxation exercises, using positive visualization, or repeating a calming mantra to yourself. If all else fails, consider this: stress can actually enhance your performance! For more complete information on test anxiety, see our previous post on exam-based fears, and how anxiety can actually help you.

• Know some good test-taking strategies. For example:
• Flip through the test before you start to get an idea of what you’re up against. If there are different sections, you may want to think about where it’s best for you to start.
• For timed tests, skip hard questions initially. Be sure to circle them and dog ear the bottom of the page so you don’t forget to come back to them later.
• If you’re taking a multiple choice test, cover the choices, answer the question in your head, then choose the answer that most closely matches your idea. If you’re still stumped, eliminate as many answers as you can, then pick the one that sounds best.
• Jot memory aids in the margin of the test before you start working. This will save you from having to keep all that stuff in your memory, freeing cognitive energy to focus on the test content. For example, if you’re taking an algebra test, writing “PEMDAS” or “FOIL” at the top of each page can help you remember to use the right order of operations or guide you through the process for multiplying a binomial.
• Use the margins to plan your response to essay questions, too. Take a minute or two to list some ideas you could include in your answer to center your thoughts before you begin to write. You could even go back and number your ideas so you’ll know what you want to say first, second, etc. Your answer will probably be better, and you won’t have to try to squeeze in all the stuff you realize that you forgot to mention when you proofread your answer. (By the way, don’t forget to proofread your answer!)

We wish everyone the best of luck on finals, though with solid preparation, you shouldn't need much luck!

Ten Signs: When To Seek Help for Difficulty In School

How can a parent know if the time is right to seek help for difficulty in school? The honest answer is that every child (and every situation) is different, but if you are having significant or persistent concerns about a student, no matter their age, academic level, or context, we strongly recommend speaking with a qualified professional to ensure that your child is receiving the appropriate support he or she may need to excel in their educational pursuits. Sometimes, it can be important to seek help from professionals working independently of your child's school if you have concerns that the school is not meeting your child's needs, and especially if faculty and administrators do not share your level of concern.

The Yellin Center has compiled a list of ten signs parents and educators should be on the lookout for in students who are experiencing some difficulty in their day to day school or home lives. If more than a handful of these statements are accurate depictions of a student in your life, Dr. Yellin recommends you seek out professional care.

Ten Signs: When To Seek Help for Difficulty In School

1. Stomach aches, headaches or other symptoms of minor illness that occur consistently on Sunday nights, Monday mornings, or when working on projects or preparing for school
2. Feeling stressed or generally anxious
3. Homework and school projects taking much longer than expected on a regular basis
4. Not reading for pleasure, and not feeling joyful about learning or new experiences, generally
5. Diminished self-esteem
6. Low motivation
7. Grades and test scores are not reflecting effort (especially), or knowledge
8. Evidence of strong verbal skills paired with poor writing
9. Knowing subject material one week but completely forgetting it in the following week
10. Seemingly performing well in school, but completely "falling apart" -- emotionally, academically, or otherwise -- at soon as at home

-Jeremy Koren

Coping with Test Anxiety: Worriers Versus Warriors

Most of us have been there: butterflies in the stomach, clammy hands that tremble, difficulty breathing. Test anxiety is all too familiar to most of us. A recent article in The New York Times by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman (also authors of Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing) explores why some kids (Warriors) seem to approach exams with cavalier nonchalance while others (Worriers) are seized with paralyzing stress. Of course, human behavior is influenced by a multitude of factors, but there’s also a compelling genetic explanation for this phenomenon. When a person experiences stress, the prefrontal cortex of his/her brain is flooded with the chemical dopamine. Because our brains work best when dopamine levels are controlled, the gene responsible for clearing that dopamine, a gene called the COMT gene, sets to work to restore balance. COMT, however, comes in two varieties. The first clears the dopamine slowly. The second clears it rapidly. Those who have the rapid removal version of COMT, Warriors, tend to perform better under stress. Worriers on the other hand, whose brains seem to become saturated with dopamine, often experience a drop in performance.

Here’s the part that makes this seem particularly unfair to Worriers: A slow-acting COMT gene is typically associated with higher cognitive and executive function skills. So students with higher cognitive abilities who sit down to a test are at a larger disadvantage than their less academically able classmates. The Times articles notes that a study in Taiwan demonstrated that students with higher IQs coupled with the slow-removal gene under-performed their fast-acting COMT-endowed counterparts on a high-stakes national exam.

This seems like bad news for Worriers, but, happily, there is hope. Studies of stress indicate that, like much else in life, the spin we put on a situation has an enormous impact on the way we deal with it. According to the authors, both amateur and professional athletes have been found to experience the same levels of stress before competition. The difference? The amateurs view stress as a derailing force while the professionals view it as an energizing one. The article notes that a study at Harvard put this principle to the test in an academic setting. Before taking a practice test, some students were given a statement explaining to them that stress actually improved test performance. Not only did that group out-perform the control group on the practice test, but they attained higher scores again when they took the actual GRE weeks later.

Part of managing test anxiety, then, is a matter of philosophy. The other comes with good, old-fashioned practice. The authors advocate “training, preparation, and repetition” as the best way to prepare Worriers for a stressful event. Here are some of our ideas for combating test anxiety, whether you’re coaching a student in your life, or yourself:

• Allow the student to verbalize what she is feeling and help her by giving her the right language if she struggles. If talking it out is too hard, ask her to write about her thoughts. 

• Help the student to understand that stress is not only normal but potentially beneficial. Share with him the story about stress experienced by amateur and professional athletes. Talk about viewing stress as a positive phenomenon. 

• Physical relaxation can sometimes trigger mental clarity. Help students learn self-coaching language, or teach them to tense, then relax, various muscle groups. Some students may feel better if they have the chance to engage in physical activity before a test, like doing some yoga poses or going for a jog. 

• Familiarity with test-day factors can be enormously helpful in combating stress. Help your student take practice tests, ideally under the same conditions in which she will face the real thing (i.e. setting, time constraints, etc.) If all that isn’t possible, visit the test site, review the testing procedures with your student using the verbatim instructions if you can find them, etc. 

• Scholastic competitions (the math team, spelling bees, etc.) can serve as what the authors call “inoculation” for Worriers. Encourage your student to participate in such activities.

Photo: CC by Justin D. Miller

Changes in Medical Education

Two recent articles in The New York Times focus on how medical education is changing. Both reflect the trend away from the traditional path of four years of hard science courses in college, followed by four years of medical school, where coursework continues to focus strictly on science based topics.

One move away from this is the growth in post-baccalaureate pre-med programs, where college graduates who have not taken the necessary science courses, or who are out in the working world but want to switch to a career in medicine, can prepare for medical school. According to the Times article, more than 15% of new medical students have gained admission after completing such programs and there are now 135 post-baccalaureate programs listed with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). These students may have studied poetry, history, or psychology in college and may have had work experience as teachers, artists, or marketers. They can bring a very different perspective to their medical education and their interactions with their patients.

Another trend involves changes to the medical school curriculum itself, towards what the Times piece calls "heart and soul and social science." The AAMC is making substantial changes to the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) in an effort to look for strengths in areas other than just science, with the goal of admitting individuals to medical school who bring a broader skill set -- including the ability to connect to their patients, not just to analyze test results. Beginning in 2015, the MCAT will include sections on "Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behavior" which are designed, according to the MCAT website, to recognize "the importance of socio-cultural and behavioral determinants of health and health outcomes." In addition, another new section called "Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills" is intended to help identify applicants from diverse backgrounds. Students entering college this coming fall will be the first group to take the new MCAT when it is put in place in 2015.

Dr. Yellin's work as a consultant to the Office of Student Affairs at New York University School of Medicine and his extensive experience performing evaluations of medical students lead him to observe that whatever changes may occur to medical school admissions and curriculum, the academic demands of medical school will continue to be an issue for future physicians."Like other strong learners," he notes, "medical students will not get very far in their studies or careers without an understanding of how they actually learn and without developing a repertoire of strategies. Often, learning strategies that have worked for them in other environments don't work for them in the demanding setting of medical school. They need to develop new strategies for the extraordinary demands of the medical curriculum and that requires them to understand how they learn, since even very successful students will have stronger and weaker areas in their academic skills."

Photo: Alex Proimos/Flickr Creative Commons

"Flagging" on Law School Admission Tests

In a recent blog, we wrote about a report from the Government Accountability Office that looked at how testing companies were complying with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). At that time, we noted that the one testing organization that did not participate in the interviews or provide written information for the report was the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), which administers the LSAT, the test which accredited law schools use in their admissions process.

Now, the American Bar Association (ABA), with almost 400,000 members, has called for the LSAC to change its policies on dealing with individuals with disabilities and to bring its test into line with such other high stakes tests as the SAT, ACT, and GRE. What makes this American Bar Association resolution so important is that it comes from the organization that accredits law schools and that requires law schools to use an admissions test. Although the ABA does not control the LSAT, it tacitly endorses its use. Pressure for change from the ABA may prove the best hope for change in how the LSAT functions and may move the LSAC to comply with the ABA resolution that the LSAC ensure that, "the reporting of test scores is consistent for all applicants and does not differentiate on the basis that an applicant received an accommodation for a disability."

The ADA requires that all testing organizations provide individuals with documented disabilities with accommodations such as extended time, extra breaks, or auxiliary aids, which aids should "best ensure" that the test reflects the test taker's abilities and not his or her disabilities. But most of the high stakes testing organizations go further and report the scores of individuals taking their test with accommodations in the same manner as those who take it without accommodations; they do not "flag" a score as having been earned through "non-standard administration." That was not always the case, and only happened after settlement of a federal lawsuit in 2000 and subsequent action by testing companies. The SATs continued to flag scores for students who received test accommodations until 2003.

What has the American Bar Association and others concerned is that the LSAT -- along with the MCAT, the Medical College Admissions Test -- continues to flag scores of students who take their tests with accommodations, in contrast to every other major high stakes test. The LSAC has stated that they continue to flag because, "it would be misleading to report scores earned with additional test time without some indication of the non standard administration." They further note, that "scores earned with additional time are not comparable to standard scores," even though the other testing organizations have concluded that this is not the case with their tests.

As might be expected, there have been lawsuits against the LSAC and even agreements with the Justice Department, but no case has resulted in changes to the flagging policy. We hope that this welcome action by the American Bar Association will be key to changing the flagging policy for the LSAT.

Photo used under Creative Commons

Test-Taking Tips From The Experts

Because of the nature of memory, we often tell students that the best way to study for a test is to take practice tests. Research indicates that rereading study material, the method preferred by most people, is less effective than taking practice tests for two reasons: First, our brains have difficulty distinguishing between material with which we are familiar and material which we truly understand. Students may stop studying too early because they recall seeing information before, only to realize during the test that they didn’t actually understand it. Second, answering practice questions gives the brain practice at retrieving information from long-term memory, the process a student undergoes during actual testing. Students who have the opportunity to rehearse “finding” answers are more prepared to do this quickly and easily on test day.

An article in The Wall Street Journal from earlier this week covers this principle and offers other testing tips derived from a number of studies on learning. For example, nearly everybody knows that eating a nutritious breakfast on test day is important, but a recent experiment demonstrated that consumption of a nutritious diet should start a week before the test date for optimum results. The article also discusses how to balance sleeping and studying, and offers tips to help combat test anxiety. 

Students gearing up for the first round of mid-terms can access the full article here.

Photo used under Creative Commons by Steven S.

Justice Department Ruling Has Major Implications for Test Accommodations

We love it when the law works. So, we were pleased to hear about what happened last week in the lawsuit brought by Dee Jones, a law student at Vermont Law School, who had filed a federal lawsuit against the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Ms. Jones, who managed to be admitted to law school -- and to do well -- despite blindness and a learning difficulty, needed to take and pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) to be licensed as an attorney. The test is developed under the auspices of the National Conference of Bar Examiners. However, Ms. Jones was denied the use of the test modifications and accommodations she requested, and which she had used successfully in college and law school -- a combination of Kurzweil 3000 and ZoomText software. Using these two technologies together provides simultaneous large font and audio versions of the test materials. Instead, the defendant organizations offered Jones accommodations from a menu they developed, which included a reader, or an audio recording of the test, or a Braille version of the exam.

Jones, aided by the National Federation of the Blind, sued and claimed that being limited to the accommodations that the testing organizations selected was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As her attorney, Daniel Goldstein, noted in an article in Vermont Today, "...it's like if you were a vegetarian and someone said, 'Okay, we won't give you the roast beef. Would you like the pork or the chicken?"

Adding to the problem was the looming date of the next exam, scheduled for August 11, 2011.

On July 21st, the U.S. Justice Department filed a Statement of Interest with the court, noting, "the United States does not interpret ... the ADA to simply require reasonable accommodations to Ms. Jones, but rather to require appropriate modifications or auxiliary aids to 'best ensure' that the exam measures Ms. Jones’ knowledge of professional responsibility issues and not her visual disabilities.

Based upon the Justice Department filing, and as noted in a press release from the U.S. Attorney in Vermont, the District Court granted Ms. Jones’ motion for a preliminary injunction and agreed with the Justice Department analysis of the controlling “best ensure” standard. As a result of the ruling by the District Court, the National Conference of Bar Examiners was ordered to allow Ms. Jones to take the MPRE on August 5, 2011 using the screen reading software that Ms. Jones used throughout law school as her primary reading method. We hope she did well.

As the long term impact of this preliminary injunction becomes more clear, we will look, in a future blog, at what this means for students who require accommodations.


Photo used under Creative Commons by Wikipedia Saves Public Art.

Just Ask the Kids

Preliminary findings from a study financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, looking at what makes an effective teacher, make it clear that students are excellent judges of their instructors. The study findings, reported in the New York Times, used gains on standardized tests to measure teachers' effectiveness. But it was not the teachers who spent the most classroom time on test preparation whose students did best on the tests. The teachers whose students scored higher were those who maintained order in their classrooms, helped students learn from their errors, and who explained the course material  in several different ways. And it was these same teachers who were higher ranked by their students.

As one teacher commented when we mentioned these findings, "It's no surprise. Students say they like classes where the teacher makes it easy, but what they really prefer is to learn how to think. Teaching can't be a popularity contest, but we need to give substantial weight to what students think about their teachers and the way they teach when we evaluate instruction."

This study focused on public school school students, but the idea of listening to students when evaluating their teachers has been around for a while on college campuses. Sites like "Ratemyprofessors.com" have long allowed college undergraduates to share their opinions about their professors, for better or for worse. Whether this is always a positive step and whether it should be used for students at all levels can be debated. But, as noted by the individual who developed the student questionnaires for the Gates Foundation study, "As a nation, we've wasted what students know about their own classroom experiences instead of using that knowledge to inform school reform efforts."