What supports will you offer your child as they prepare for upcoming assessments?
Once the holidays are over, it’s full steam ahead toward assessment season. It could be as early as February for some jurisdictions. Teachers will be busy unloading as much content as possible into their students’ brains, but here are some things you can do at home to help improve your child’s chances on the high-stakes tests.
Communicate
Above all else, be a sounding board for your child. More days than not they will come home overwhelmed. Let them vent. Let them work out the new content in their heads. The ultimate demonstration of learning is to patiently let them explain what they studied that day in their own words. Then you (and them) will know that they’ve truly synthesized the learning. If your child isn’t so forthcoming, do a little research or even contact their teacher to find out what’s going on in class. Then you can start the conversation.
Get started on good habits
At the beginning of the school year, you might have resolved to help your child get enough sleep, eat properly, and establish good homework and study habits. Then life got in the way. There’s no need to be ashamed if you’ve let things slip. It happens to everyone. But it’s never too late to help your child start moving in the right direction.
On test days, a good night’s rest and a solid breakfast are crucial things you can do to help the cause, but they will be harder to implement if you just start on the night before testing. Get them into the habits now and not only will their chances improve on test day, but their success in this ramp-up period will also increase.
Read your child’s signals
Some kids thrive on pressure or need reminding of how important these tests can be to their future. Others are well aware of the stakes and can shut down if their parents harp on the upcoming assessments.
You know your child better than anyone. Listen to your instincts. If you feel they need a cheerleader, get your pompoms out. If they have everything under control, do your best to stay out of their way (even though that might be really difficult for you to do). Just make sure they know that they can come to you for any support they might need.
If needed, get some help
It’s never too late to find some outside tutoring for a struggling student. It could be that their only barrier to success on the assessments is a background skill that they failed to master earlier in the year or in a previous year. Some extra help identifying the shortcomings and then some practice to remediate those skills could make all the difference come test time.