Kids sharpen chill skills for high-stakes testing
WASHINGTON – Add deep breathing and movement exercises to the techniques teachers are using to prepare students for high-pressure tests.
Schools are taking exam anxiety more seriously now that standardized tests have become crucial to determining their performance under the federal No Child Left Behind law. And a recent study suggests that students do better when they’re relaxed and in a good mood.
“Usually, when I take a test, I’m really nervous. I freeze,” said Breanna Craft, 17, of Hollister, Calif., who learned deep breathing exercises as part of a recent study on how stress affects student performance. “When I (did) my breathing, it became less stressful and I was able to concentrate better.”
The high school junior was one of about 800 10th-graders last year around the country who participated in the study by the California-based Institute of HeartMath. The nonprofit corporation found that 55 percent of 10th-graders often had high levels of test anxiety and their scores were lower than those of students who used the company’s techniques to improve relaxation and mood.
The findings come as schools increasingly search for ways to improve scores as the Bush administration calls for more testing.
States must start this year testing children on math and reading in grades three through eight under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which also requires that students take a science test at least once in elementary, middle and high school by 2007-08. Many states require students to pass high school exit exams before they get their diploma. And all of that doesn’t count the PSATs, the SATs and the Advanced Placement tests that are an increasing part of student life.
‘In a pleasant place’
Teachers long have provided students a steady diet of practice exams and refresher classes as test preparation, but now stress reduction – even yoga – has been added to the menu, said Judy Bowers, past president of American School Counselor Association.
Bowers is director of counseling for Tucson (Ariz.) Unified School District, where some schools use a program called Brain Gym. The program teaches children to relax and focus using a series of movements also designed to improve blood flow to the brain.
“Teachers and counselors are really working to not get kids all worked up about testing and make it part of the normal school day,” she said.
The idea of programs like HeartMath and Brain Gym is to get participants’ minds working at their peak to enhance recollection of facts and cognitive abilities – important test-taking skills.
It’s worked at East Side Charter School in Wilmington, Del., where some students used to run out of the test room in tears, said Howard Payton, the school’s director of development.
Once they started using HeartMath, many children at the K-7 school have been able to minimize the pressures associated with the test, Payton said. As a result, math and reading scores improved.
“They are taught to be in a pleasant place … to fill their lungs as much as they can and exhale very slowly. And, at the same time, close their eyes and visualize something they love like playing with their pets or going with their grandfather to the ice cream store,” Payton said. “We’ve been able to get people through testing.”