BACK TO SCHOOL!  

ARE YOU PREPARED? 

On Monday, students in the School District of Philadelphia go back to school. Each year around this time, parents have to shift into a different gear of anticipating and understanding the challenges that our kids will be experiencing.  One of the most stressful challenges to our kids can be the four letter word: T-E-S-T.

Balancing expectations for excellence along with the anxiety that we all go through when given a timed test can be tough for the most seasoned parent or professional. If we anticipate these problems and start a dialogue we can give our young people tips and pointers for reducing “test stress.” For this advice, I turned to my friend, parenting expert and educator, Dr. Myrna Shure.  Dr. Shure is the author of a book that should be on every parent’s nightstand, “Thinking Parent, Thinking Child.”

Good luck to all of the students and parents who are going back to school.  Remember, whether it is Kindergarten, High School, a Master’s or Doctorate Program, it is OK to be stressed out by tests. Remember, as I have told my daughter often during her elementary and middle school years: focus and learn to schedule what you have to do and then leave time for what you want to do.  Prior, proper planning will always help prevent a poor performance.

Good luck! 

Blondell Reynolds Brown

Councilwoman At-Large

P.S.  Stay tuned for October guest blogger Terry Graboyes, my Girls High classmate!

  

“Test Stress:  What Can You Do?”

An Excerpt from “Thinking Parent, Thinking Child” by Dr. Myrna B. Shure

Dr. Myrna B. Shure

 Is your child afraid of school tests? Some kids are, even as early as age five or six. If you see a fearful pattern beginning to emerge, you'll probably want to ask your child why he's afraid. But most likely you'll hear the perennial, "I don't know."

Stay calm. If you're upset about his anxiety, your child will sense it. But don't dismiss his fear, either, by saying, "You'll do fine." Your child will sense a distinct lack of caring about his feelings. It's also important to avoid showing disappointment in a bad grade. Instead of telling your child how you feel about the grade, let your child express how he feels about it.

What you need to do next is determine why he's afraid and what exactly the problem is. Test anxiety can have several different causes, and you can often find the source of the problem if you go over the test with your child.

Some children don't do well on tests and come to fear them. If this is the case, you can try coaching your child in some specific test-taking strategies, such as those described by Joseph Casbarro in his book Test Anxiety and What You Can Do About It. These include looking over the entire test before starting, eliminating choices in a multiple-choice exam that your child knows for sure are incorrect, answering easy items first, and watching the time.

Another possibility is that your child knew the answers and still failed a test, which makes him afraid to try again. Try to determine if your child read the questions too quickly or failed to understand the directions. Many kids misread directions and questions, often from carelessness. If this is the case with your child, have him practice reading more slowly and carefully.

Some children fear tests even when they don't fail. It may be that your child is afraid of making mistakes. If so, let him know that everybody does. Another possibility is that your child may worry about letting you down. He may feel that too much emphasis is placed on achievement or that he receives praise only when he does well. One parent I know criticized her daughter for getting a 98 on a math test. Instead of focusing on the positive score, she questioned her child about what she got wrong.

As Maurice Elias of Rutgers University tells us, “We must prepare our children for the tests of life, not a life of tests.” And by doing that, they may actually feel less anxious about the tests they have to take. 

Order your copy of "Thinking Parent, Thinking Child" by clicking this link.