By Carol Chmelynski
3/16/04 -- The requirements and penalties of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have made students' performance on standardized tests so crucial that some school officials are staging pep rallies and other fun, creative activities to motivate students to take the tests seriously and to show up on test days.
Of course, schools are focusing on drilling students on the material being tested and test-taking skills, but many also have embraced humor and other attitude adjustment exercises to inspire students to do their best.
Last year, Mark Cook, principal of Jefferson Elementary School in Cape Girardeau, Mo., dressed up as a doctor and the counselor dressed up as a nurse and dispensed "smart pills" (lemon drops) before the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test.
It will take a whole lot more than smart pills, Cook says, but the school is "trying to motivate children and not scare them to death."
Dr. MAP, as Cook calls himself, has organized a MAP team of teachers this year to provide encouragement to his 300 K-4 students in the days before the tests.
He is planning a family night to better inform parents of the importance of the test. Also, students are going to write letters of encouragement to students in the grade above them. "Everybody has to buy in to the importance of this," he says.
On test days, students will be seated at a VIP lunch table and there might be a pizza party after the test. "In Missouri, we won't learn how the kids did on these tests until the following fall, so we need to reward the students for coming and finishing the test," Cook says.
Under NCLB, schools could fail to make adequate yearly progress if less than 95 percent of the students in each subgroup fail to take the tests. To ensure a 95 percent attendance rate at Pueblo High Magnet School in Tucson, Ariz., Principal Richard Carranza made a deal with his students: "If you do what I want, I'll do what you want."
As a result, a student representative from each grade will shave Carranza's head during a "Celebrating Academic Achievement" assembly May 7.
"I agreed to this head-shaving challenge because things have been very heavy duty around this," he says. "There's been a lot of serious discussion about the educational process, and at one point I thought, 'you know, these are still children. We have to make it fun.'"
Carranza is glad he told students that he and his wife would have the final say. Otherwise, he might have had to have his hair dyed in the school colors and styled in a Mohawk while wearing a wrestling leotard.
The Orange County, Fla., school system wants to avoid "kids throwing up and freaking out" on test days, says district spokesperson Jackie Johnson.
So for the past two years, the 166,000-student district has produced motivational videos to help students deal with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT).
This year, Cleveland Browns defensive end Kenard Lang, an Orange County graduate, appears in the videos. "Kenard tells kids that preparing for the FCAT is a lot like preparing for a football game," Johnson says. "You need to read your playbook, listen to your coaches, eat a good meal, and know that you're going to do well."
"A lot of tension kids feel actually comes from the parents," she says, so the district also produced a 10-minute video in English and Spanish explaining to parents what the FCAT is all about and offering tips to help their children do well.
The video for parents was broadcast on local access stations, and copies are available at schools, libraries, and community centers.
Individual schools also have their own activities, such as FCAT rallies, parades, motivational speakers, T-shirts, and parent nights, she says. Some schools give students who do well FCAT dollars that they can exchange for class privileges.
Businesses have also helped. Last year, the Universal Studios theme park offered free tickets to the class at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando with the highest attendance on test day.
Even the food services department gets into the act, Johnson says. There is a special menu during the testing period, with more high-protein items. Students also were given granola bars, trail mix, water, and juice during testing breaks.
Many schools in Texas held pep rallies last month with the theme "Tackle the TAKS" (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) to energize students and calm their fears.
The Clint Independent School District in El Paso, Texas, provided breakfast to all elementary students on test day, says spokesperson Laura Cade.
Middle school teachers conduct individual confidence-building sessions with each child, Cade says. "Teachers feel one-on-one sessions work better than a larger group, so they dedicate three weeks to this." Sessions with the children most at risk are done last, "so it's fresher in their minds."
Some middle schools hold a "brain gym," where students do certain physical exercises that researchers have shown are linked to reading and math skills, Cade says. And some have tried aroma therapy with peppermint, which is supposed to bring oxygen to the brain.
The day before the TAKS, Linda McAbee, a third-grade teacher at Bradley Elementary in El Paso, has "pajama day" to reduce anxiety before the tests. Students and teachers come to school in their pajamas and lie on the library floor with pillows and blankets and read books. Later, they have contests on sample test questions with prizes and popcorn.
When Moulton Middle School in Shelbyville, Ill., held a pep rally before last year's Illinois Standard Achievement Test (ISAT), Principal Sheila Greenwood told students they could launch helium-filled balloons announcing their success if their test scores improved. Scores did improve, and the launch in September -- tied to a geography lesson -- was beautiful, she says.
Greenwood also brought in her colleague and friend, Butch Lockley, the principal who appeared on the reality TV show, "Survivor," to motivate and congratulate students on their efforts.
"Heaven knows what we'll come up with this year," she says. "We'll find something to top it, I just don't know what."
"We're all trying to make it lighthearted," but the tests are still stressful for students, as well as for teachers and administrators, Greenwood says. "Having some type of reward or incentive to help everyone put forth their best effort is about all we can do."