How Bertschi School Uses Test Prep to Conquer Test Anxiety
Pam Lauritzen is the Director of Enrollment Management at Bertschi School in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Two hundred and forty Pre-K through 5th-grade students attend this 42-year-old community-centered school where curriculum integrates core academics with art, technology, science, dance, music and drama. Students learn across disciplines through an education grounded in the unique talents within each child.
Bertschi and Test Prep
Throughout Pam’s 18 years as an admission professional, she has observed that standardized test scores do not always correlate to the actual talents of a student. Testing anxiety is one big reason for this – many students find it difficult to focus under the pressure of test day and don’t perform at their best.
Due in part to this concern, Bertschi does not use an entrance exam as a precondition to admission. Instead, the school focuses on what prospective students would bring to the educational community; how they collaborate with others, and how the style of the school will work for them.
However, most independent middle schools in the Seattle area do require either the ISEE or SSAT. To help their matriculating 5th-grade students reduce anxiety around these rigorous standardized tests, Bertschi’s leadership wanted to provide some kind of test preparation. Their initial iteration of a test prep program was paper-based, but they found that the binders filled with documents and bubble worksheets did not fully engage students’ attention or interest, and they lacked truly useful diagnostics and testing strategies.
Bertschi and an Online Experiment
After doing additional research, the school decided to replace their paper-based system and experiment with the Test Innovators online student portal. Pam found that students were far more engaged and willing to spend time on the web-based practice platform. She also found the diagnostic information and time management data to be critical in understanding students’ strengths and areas for growth. This year, Bertschi will teach an ISEE/SSAT test prep class using curriculum designed in part by Test Innovators educators. Students will also use the Test Innovators platform to take practice tests and hone the skills they have learned.
An Admission Counselor’s Implementation Tips
In the two years that Bertschi has offered test prep, they’ve identified a few insights that may help other schools as they consider how to best prepare their students for competitive admissions tests.
1. Consider becoming a testing center to provide your students with a familiar place. If you offer test prep, you may need to make sure your test proctor is not the same person who led the prep class. However, having adults the students know will help reduce pre-test jitters and create an atmosphere of calm confidence.
2. If offering test prep, make sure you are offering both full-length tests combined with instruction on test taking strategy. Discussing strategies and going over content alone will never be as effective as incorporating practice tests as the basis of students’ prep.
3. Do your parents rely exclusively on tutors for test prep? Online solutions like Test Innovators in conjunction with instructor-led courses (and the judicious use of tutors when necessary) might be a more efficient and cost-effective combination for students.
