Currents in Literacy

Questions From Parents

By Susan Fleming

MCAS. This new four-letter word has raised the anxiety level of teachers, students, and parents all over the state. The MCAS, which stands for Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, currently tests all fourth, eighth, and tenth graders in our public schools. Hardly a day passes without some mention in the media of the importance of these tests and the ominous results for school districts and students whose scores do not reach acceptable levels. This article will deal with the English Language Arts portion of the test, but some of the suggested strategies apply also to other subjects being tested.

What can parents do to help their children achieve high MCAS scores?

Many of the requirements of the tests are closely related to tasks required of adults. Modeling strategies for dealing with the adult-world equivalents to MCAS tasks is one way parents can bolster children's confidence when tackling the test.

What are some of these strategies?

1. Pay close attention to details. Your child's teacher will emphasize the specific words in tests which indicate how to answer what the question asks for. This is remarkably similar to what must be done to accurately fill out any important form -- income tax returns, insurance, job applications. Show you child an income tax form. This -- like the MCAS -- is an open book test. You aren't being tested on your memory. The tax form allows you to consult other sources. The MCAS allows the student to go back to the texts to figure out answers to the questions. What matters is an accurate response and following the format dictated by the form.

Talk aloud to your child about how the form looks intimidating. Then describe how, by carefully following the instructions, you can complete the form in a timely fashion. This is what the child needs to do on the MCAS.

2. Choose between less than perfect responses. Sometimes we are asked to fill out a survey, an activity similar to the multiple choice section of MCAS. The response choices usually do not provide us with the perfect response. Think out loud with your child about how you determine answers by eliminating responses that don't fit your opinion and then choosing the response closest to your "perfect" response. This technique will serve your child well in dealing with multiple choice questions on the MCAS.

3. Make carefully-reasoned inferences. Most of the questions on the MCAS are inference questions. The answers are not stated explicitly in the test, but the student can figure out the answer by combining information in the text with prior knowledge gained from experience.

Children make inferences every day. John is not in school. Children not in school are usually absent because of sickness. Therefore John is probably sick. Your child won't label this thinking "making an inference," but it is the kind of mental process required by the test: combining fact with experience.

However, many children do poorly on test inferences because they rush to hasty judgments without considering the facts listed in the text. Homework assignments often require students to make inferences. Help your children use the specifics of the text to back up their conclusions.

Homework assignments often require students to make inferences. Help your children use the specifics of the text to back up their conclusions.

4. Explain their reasoning. Many test items will ask the child to: "Give examples..." or "Describe and explain why..." or "Use evidence from the text to support..." Parents can help children by explaining the real-life necessity for these questions.

As adults we are often called upon to back up our opinions with solid reasons. We explain to the garage mechanic just why we need our car fixed, using specific examples to help him/her understand why the car is not functioning properly. The mechanic will also need to explain precisely why we need to buy the part which will repair the problem, citing consequences if we don't.

Helping children understand that explaining their opinions on tests is not an isolated school activity but a step toward being able to function as a mature adult, may help them approach the test with greater attention.

Whenever we explain our ideas or plans reasonably and logically to children, we are modeling the way they need to approach many of the MCAS questions. Of course we're not going to explain every decision we make, nor are we going to demand our children give three reasons for everything they do, but occasionally verbalizing our reasoning and challenging our children to explain theirs, can assist them in responding intelligently to test questions requiring detailed explanations and examples.

5. Gain familiarity with many types of writing. Understanding the similarities and differences between fictional stories, biographical sketches, informational articles, poetry, and plays is a necessary preparation for the MCAS. Often children learn formal definitions in school, but they have no depth of understanding of how various genres (types of writing) work. When required to analyze pieces of writing, or to combine similar information acquired from two different genres, students often don't know where to begin.

When parents verbally discuss their reading, they help children understand how to approach the printed page. Remember, you don't need to dissect a lengthy novel like War and Peace. The selections on the MCAS tests are short, roughly the length of a newspaper article. What's important isn't the length of what you discuss, but the depth of understanding you bring to it. Think out loud about your response to an editorial in the newspaper: "This columnist claims... but all he provides for evidence is... This letter to the editor, though, gives solid facts." Hearing that kind of analytic talk helps children understand how to critically evaluate writing.

Try, also, to sample the reading children bring home. Read a chapter in the novel they are in the midst of. Discuss your response to the mood of the story, what you have learned from your sample about the characters, what gives you the feeling one of them is taking advantage of another. You might take turns reading parts from a play that has been assigned. Show your child how much can be learned through the stage directions that are included with the dialogue, how character is revealed through what is said, and how the action is moved forward. The purpose of this reading is not to quiz your children or put them on the spot but to engage them in thinking about motivation and character development and how authors accomplish this.

The hardest genre for both children and adults is often poetry because so much meaning is packed into so few words. Spend a few minutes with your child reading a poem aloud, discussing the word choices, thinking about the way the meaning would be changed if another word were substituted.

When you encounter an unfamiliar word in your reading, take the time to demonstrate how the meaning can be figured out by the sentences before and after the word. Then check the meaning in the dictionary, pointing out how to decipher dictionary entries.

Investing time in helping children learn to pay close attention to details, to choose between less than perfect responses, to make carefully reasoned inferences, to explain their reasoning, and to become familiar with many different genres by diving below the surface to explore deeper meaning, will pay big dividends. Not only will your children face the MCAS with greater confidence, they may no longer see the test as a dirty four-letter word but rather as preparation for the future demands of the adult world. And by paying close attention to your child you may reap the reward of a deeper relationship.

Susan Fleming, Ph.D. an author of children's books, member of the Lesley University faculty, and a parent, has also been a public school classroom teacher and an editor of teaching manuals.